r 


)f  California 
Regional 

Facility 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


REMINISCENCES    OF 

G.  F.  WATTS 


"  To  this  life  things  of  sense 

Make  their  pretence  ; 
In  th'  other  angels  have  a  right  by  birth  ; 

Man  ties  them  both.,  alone. 

And  makes  them  one  ; 
With  th"  one  hand  touching  heavn  ;   luith  th*  other,  earth. 

*'  In  soul,  he  mounts  and  flies  ,- 
In  flesh  he  dies. 
He  nvears  a  stuj",  whose  thread  is  coarst  and  round. 
But  trimmed  ivith  curious  lace  ; 
ylnd  should  take  place 
After  the  trimming,  not  the  stuff  and  ground." 

— "  Mans  Medley,"   George  Herbert. 


t< 


? 


^^IM 


r88i  ,iioihZ  liosD  yd  gxiiixii^'i  rnoi'^ 


G.  F.  WATTS 
From  Painting  by  Cecil  Schott,  1887 


G.   F.  WATTS 


REMINISCENCES 


BV    MRS.    RUSSELL   BARRINGTON 

author  of  "the  reality  of  the  spiritual  life," 

"Lena's  picture,"  "Helen's  ordeal," 

"A  retrospect,"  etc. 


"  What  :s,  is, — and  one  should  not  desire  to  make  it  seem  to  be  other  " 

G-  F.  Watt«- 


LONDON 
GEORGE  ALLEN,  156,  CHARING  CROSS  ROAD 

1905 

[All  rights  reserved] 


*, 


Reprinted  November  1905 


Printed  by  Ballantyne,  Hanson  &*  Co. 
At  the  Ballantyne  Press 


INSCRIBED 

WITH   GRATEFUL   AFFECTION 
TO   THE   MEMORY 
OF 

JANIE    SENIOR 


PREFACE 


In  attempting  to  record  these  reminiscences  of  our  great 
artist  at  so  early  a  date  after  his  death  it  is  obviously- 
impossible  even  to  allude  to  many  things  connected  with 
his  memory.  Characteristic  and  interesting  though  they 
be,  this  is  also  no  moment  to  publish  the  numerous  letters 
he  wrote  and  which  I  have  preserved.  They  were  written 
after  Watts'  powers,  artistic  and  intellectual,  had  reached 
their  maturity,  and  forming  as  they  do  an  analysis  of  his 
character  and  nature,  a  record  of  his  life  of  thought  and 
work  as  also  of  his  general  views  on  art,  they  might  at 
some  future  date  prove  of  value  in  helping  to  elucidate  the 
nature,  not  only  of  the  artist,  but  of  the  man.  It  was 
about  the  time  when  this  correspondence  began,  and  during 
the  subsequent  twelve  years  of  his  life,  that  Watts  painted 
the  works  into  which  he  consciously  put  most  of  himself — his 
aims  and  his  ideas — and  these  will  probably  be  those  pic- 
tures by  which  his  fame  will  be  sustained  and  most  last- 
ingly secured,  though  there  are  some  canvasses,  which 
evince,  I  think,  more  distinctly  his  instinctive  individual 
genius. 

Put  into  the  form  more  or  less  of  letters,  this  corre- 
spondence might  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  series  of 
short  essays.  Watts  found  ordinary  letter-writing  most 
irksome,  but  when  he  discovered  that  he  possessed  a 
facility  for  jotting  down  his  thoughts  and  ideas  with  his  pen 


viii  PREFACE 

he  appears  to  have  taken  great  interest  in  so  doing.  At 
one  time  he  was  in  the  habit  of  scribbling  down  a  thought 
that  might  strike  him  at  the  moment  on  any  scrap  of  paper 
that  might  be  at  hand,  on  every  kind  of  subject.  As  these 
generally  referred  to  conversations  he  had  had  with  my 
husband  and  myself,  he  would  often  give  these  jottings  to 
me  by  way  of  continuing  the  argument.  I  find  I  have  for- 
tunately preserved  many  of  these  jottings  with  his  letters. 
On  every  scrap  of  paper  is  an  idea,  valuable  as  a  criticism 
on  art,  morals,  or  manners.  The  first  letter  I  possess  is 
dated  April  7,  1876 — the  last,  April  2,  1904.  Besides  the 
more  important  letters,  there  are  many  notes  which  are 
only  personally  interesting  as  recalling  little  daily  events 
that  were  characteristic  of  the  life  Watts  was  leading  at 
the  time  they  were  written.  In  re-reading  these  letters  the 
thought  came — will  there  ever  be  an  exhaustive  Life  written 
of  the  man  who  penned  them }  There  is  ever  the  same 
difficulty  as  regards  biographies.  When  interest  is  keenest, 
it  is  then  precisely  the  moment  when  it  is  hardly  wise  or 
seemly  to  challenge  criticism  by  endeavouring  to  write  a 
complete  estimate  of  a  notable  individuality.  When,  in 
the  future,  certain  difficulties  no  longer  exist,  even  greater 
arise.  Those  who  could  have  given  a  true  and  subtle 
atmosphere  and  vividness  to  the  picture,  editing  the  letters 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  and  feelings 
which  incited  the  writing  of  them — these  will  also  have 
passed  behind  the  veil.  And  not  only  does  time  rob  the 
world  of  the  right  biographer,  but  also  of  the  interested 
reader.  No  time  seems  exactly  the  best  moment  when  a 
full  biography  should  be  written.  Unless  the  history  of  great 
public  events  or  discussions,  having  a  literary  or  political 
value  and  interest,  are  connected  with  the  personal  life  of  an 
individual,  there  remains  no  vivid  desire  to  know  the  vraie 


PREFACE  ix 

v^riU,  which  a  true  record  could  give,  of  the  character  and 
motives  of  the  dead,  when  the  generation  who  was  influenced 
by  the  power  and  charm  of  the  personality  has  also  passed 
away.  It  is  only  natural  this  should  be  so.  Besides  the  fact 
that  the  stream  of  life  quickly  passes  on  to  other  pastures  in 
which  the  vitality  of  the  present  absorbs  the  energies  of 
those  who  stamp  their  own  age  with  most  vitality,  a  completely 
truthful  portrait,  we  all  know,  cannot  be  written  solely  through 
facts  being  transmitted  second-hand.  The  side  lights,  the 
unacknowledged,  sometimes  even  unconscious  influences,  the 
delicate  shading  and  correct  inferences  which  all  help  to 
make  the  picture  a  true,  just,  and  merciful  record  of  the 
life  of  a  notable  human  being — a  record  which  adds  to  the 
world's  treasures  by  adding  to  men's  knowledge  of  men — 
can  only  be  supplied  by  one  who  was  in  the  life  when  it  was 
being  lived.  Facts  that  every  man  in  the  street  thinks  he 
knows,  falsify,  as  often  as  they  elucidate,  the  estimate  of  a 
character.  "  The  lie  which  is  half  a  truth  is  ever  the  worst 
of  lies,"  and  facts,  from  which  perverted  deductions  are 
invented,  can  lead  to  conceptions  which  are  completely 
false. 

Many  think  that  the  canvasses  of  great  painters  are 
their  best  biographies.  In  the  case  of  Watts,  though  his 
art  is  extraordinarily  consistent  as  regards  certain  qualities 
and  intentions,  his  pictures  are  extraordinarily  unequal  as 
regards  others.  Moreover,  as  one  who,  besides  his  univer- 
sally acknowledged  greatness  as  an  artist  is  viewed  by  one 
section  of  the  public  as  a  thinker  and  a  moralist,  Watts' 
position  in  the  interest  of  his  generation  differs  distinctly 
from  that  of  most  painters.  That  many  of  the  qualities  in  his 
Celtic  nature  and  genius  could  inspire  a  very  special  affection 
and  interest,  many  friends  can  testify.  An  attempt  to  write 
an  impartial  criticism  of  one  who  was  possessed  of  such  an 


X  PREFACE 

unusual  power  of  sympathy  and  of  so  much  personal  charm 
would  at  any  time  be  difficult ;  at  this  moment  it  would  seem 
impossible.  My  object  in  writing  the  following  pages  is  to 
record  accurately  those  things  which  have  reference  to  my 
husband's  and  my  own  personal  friendship  with  Watts 
during  many  years  of  his  life — to  give  to  the  future  a 
page  of  contemporary  history,  which,  though  by  no  means 
exhaustive,  is  correct. 

E.  I.  B. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


PAGE 


In  Rossetti's  studio— "  Lady  Lilith"— "The  Beloved "—Ruskin  and  Arthur 
Hughes  as  masters — First  impression  of  Watts — Reference  to  his  por- 
traits of  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior  ;  Miss  Senior  (Mrs.  Simpson)  ;  Miss  Eden 
(Mrs.  Cox);  Miss  Russell;  "Choosing" — Letter  of  introduction  from 
Mrs.  Nassau  Senior  to  Watts — Visit  with  Mr.  Barrington  to  the  old 
Little  Holland  House  in  1868 — Visit  to  Freshwater,  Easter  1873 — 
First  lesson  from  Watts — Visits  to  the  new  Little  Holland  House — 
Quotation  from  Watts'  letter  respecting  help  in  his  work — Mrs.  Nassau 
Senior's  death,  and  that  of  Walter  Bagehot  on  March  24,  1877    .         .         1-7 


CHAPTER    II 

AIMS 

New  Little  Holland  House — Watts'  aim  to  raise  the  art  of  England — Watts 
as  a  portrait  painter — His  sympathy  with  the  pre-Raphaelite  school 
— Indifference  respecting  the  making  of  money — Strong  views  as  to 
patriotism — Feelings  as  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  isolating  himself 
from  the  outside  world — Equestrian  statue  of  the  Duke  of  Westminster's 
ancestor  Hugh  Lupus — Watts'  depreciation  of  his  own  powers — Con- 
sciousness of  aiming  towards  the  highest  in  Art— Refers  to  the  heroic 
sentiment  in  Art — Technical  difficulties — Value  of  portrait  painting — 
Watts'  combination  of  knowledge  and  instinctive  sense  for  form  and 
colour — Criticism  of  the  methods  of  teaching  in  art  schools — His  early 
strict  religious  training — Recognition  of  the  value  of  the  "golden  thread" 
which  inspired  his  highest  aims 8-21 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III 

GENIUS 


PAGE 


Watts'  constant  depreciation  of  self— Celtic  in  nature  but  a  pupil  of  Pheidias 
— Ruskin's  opinion  regarding  his  studying  Greek  Art — Letters  from 
Ruskin  to  Watts — Advice  to  study  botany — Watts'  patron,  Mr.  lonides 
— First  commission— Early  pictures — Portraits  of  the  lonides'  family, 
Miss  M.  K.  Brunton,  "Aurora,"  "The  Wounded  Heron"— Visit  to 
Lord  Holland  in  Italy — Journey  with  Sir  Charles  Newton  to  Greece 
— Visit  to  Embassy  at  Constantinople — Italy  stimulating  to  Watts' 
genius — Influence  of  Orgagna  and  Titian — Return  to  England — Pic- 
tures painted  between  1848  and  1876— Wall  paintings  in  Charles  Street 
and  in  Little  Holland  House— "  Life's  Illusions,"  "Time  and  Oblivion," 
"The  Good  Samaritan,"  "Found  Drowned,"  "Under  a  Dry  Archway," 
"The  Song  of  the  Shirt,"  "Irish  Peasants  during  the  Famine"— Lists 
of  pictures — Influence  of  sitters  on  his  own  creative  power — "Watch- 
man, what  of  the  Night"?  "Ophelia,"  "  Clytie,"  "Joachim,"  "Hope," 
"Walter  Crane" — No  direct  personal  influence  in  "  Sic  Transit,"  "The 
Minotaur,"  "Jonah" — Slav  and  Celt — Similarity  in  their  languages 
traced  by  Nietzsche,  also  in  music  of  Tchaikovsky  and  art  of  Watts — ■ 
Differences  traced— Parthenon  Frieze,  Michael  Angelo's  "Slave"  and 
Watts'  "Clytie" — Typical  example  of  melancholy  Celt  in  Brittany 
Arthurian  legends — Pierre  Loti's  "  Pecheurs  d'Islande" — The  indefinite 
notes  reflecting  the  contrasts  of  life  sounded  in  Watts'  art— Reference  to 
design  on  cover 22-47 


CHAPTER    IV 

SCULPTURE 

In  Behne's  studio — Knight's  adverse  criticism  of  Elgin  Marbles — Haydon's 
discovery  of  their  true  worth — Watts'  keen  interest  in  Pheidian  frag- 
ments—  Sculptor's  studio  in  new  Little  Holland  House — First  sketches 
for  "Vital  Energy" — Description  of  principle  underlying  the  value  of  a 
"good"  line  discovered  by  Watts — Method  of  working  adopted  for 
"Hugh  Lupus,''  "Vital  Energy,"  and  "Aurora" — Ingenious  invention 
for  making  changes  in  design — "Aurora" — "Daphne" — Mr.  Stanley's 
monument  at  Holyhead 48-56 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER   V 

OUR   FRIENDSHIP 

PAGE 

Watts'  friendship  inspiring — His  distinct  personality — Mrs.  Nassau  Senior 
— Lady  Catherine  Barrington — Monotony  of  Watts'  outward  life — 
Notes  referred  to,  recalling  neighbourly  intercourse — Building  of  a 
studio  in  garden  of  Melbury  House — Casts  of  Parthenon  Frieze  and  of 
figures  from  the  Nike  Athena  Temple. — Watts'  lessons  on  these — 
Description  of  Watts'  manner  of  painting — Evening  visits  to  studio — 
Books  and  conversation — Mr.  Augustine  Birrell's  lecture  at  Leighton 
House — Mrs.  W.  R.  Greg's  letter  in  Sir  M.  Grant-Duff's  "  Notes  from  a 
Diary" — Madame  Mohl's  salon — Watts'  admiration  for  paintings  by 
Etty — Interest  in  Haydon — Intolerance  of  "bores" — Conversation  which 
led  Watts  to  offer  works  to  the  nation — Tate  Gallery — Article  written 
1878,  "Is  a  Great  School  of  Art  possible  in  the  Present  Day?" — In- 
spires Watts'  thoughts  on  various  subjects — Papers  sent  in  to  author 
published  under  the  title  "  The  Present  Conditions  of  Art,"  Nitieteenth 
Century,  February  1880 — Watts  disclaimed  possessing  originality — 
Watts  adopts  Titian's  method  of  painting  as  described  by  Boschini — 
Models  for  "Uldra,"  "The  rain  it  raineth  every  day" — Portraits  of 
Dorothy  Dene — Watts' wish  to  build  Gallery — Canon  and  Mrs.  Barnett's 
enterprise  for  yearly  picture  Exhibitions  in  Whitechapel — Watts'  and 
Leighton's  help — Visits  from  poor  of  Whitechapel  to  Watts'  Gallery — 
Lists  of  pictures — Love  of  music — Interest  in  photography — His  adopted 
daughter  "Blanche"  and  her  cousins'  visit  to  Little  Holland  House — 
Watts'  paintings  from  old  Little  Holland  House — Original  designs  and 
enlarged  copies  of  Flaxman's  designs  for  Dante's  '■'•Inferno''''  and 
" Paradiso"  —  Finishes  Mr.  Barrington's  portrait — Group  of  heads 
painted  in  miniature  on  ivory — Grosvenor  Gallery,  1882 — American 
Exhibition,  1885-6 — Watts'  views  as  to  money — Negotiations  for  the 
purchase  of  pictures  from  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  Exhibition — Leighton's 
suggestion  re  Chantrey  Bequest — Watts'  interest  in  published  criticisms 
— Letter  respecting  criticism  in  Times  on  Grosvenor  Gallery  Exhibition 
— Higher  and  wider  appreciation  of  Watts'  art — Exhibition  in  New  York 
— Mr.  Frank  Millett's  help — Preface  to  Catalogue — Unparalleled  suc- 
cess of  pictures — Pictures  remain  till  October  1886 — Preface  to  Cata- 
logue reprinted.  "  The  Duality  of  my  Nature" — Misunderstanding 
with  critics — Income-tax  demanded  on  his  work — Refusal  of  baronetcy 
— Two  disturbing  episodes  in  autumn  and  winter  of  1885 — Difficulties 
in  attaining  consistency  in  theory  and  action — Religion — Effects  of  early 


xiv  CONTENTS 

evangelical  teaching  on  Watts'  nature — Roman  Catholicism  unsym- 
pathetic to  Watts — Favourite  chapter  in  the  Bible — Henry  Drumniond's 
books — Freedom  of  thought  and  investigation  claimed  as  the  right  of 
all — Sympathy  with  "extreme  people" — Prince  Krapotkin — Mazzini's 
appreciation  of  "Time  and  Oblivion" — Quotation  from  letter — Admira- 
tion for  Count  Tolstoi's  writings — Quotation  from  letter  in  1886 — Watts 
felt  his  life  should  be  in  tune  with  the  best— Beauty  in  nature  religion 
in  itself  to  Watts  and  Leighton — Quotation  from  Leighton's  address 
to  the  Royal  Academy  Students  in  1881  ......         57-159 


CHAPTER  VI 

SICKNESS,   TRAVELS,   AND    OLD   AGE 

Easter  Day,  April  25,  1886,  in  Somerset — Letter  dated  "Tuesday,  Sunrise, 
Melbury  Road" — Offer  for  "Hope" — Quotation  from  letter  referring 
to  red  chalk  drawing  of  "The  Daughter  of  Duty  and  Introspection" 
— In  autumn  of  1886  tries  pastels — "Brynhildr"  sold  to  author — Money 
anxieties — Class  in  Iron  Studio — Mr.  Henry  Moore — Illness — Doctor's 
desire  for  him  to  leave  England — Copies  of  pictures  executed  by  Cecil 
Schott — First  letter  from  Malta — New  Year's  letter  from  foot  of  Great 
Pyramid — Writes  from  Assouan — Hamilton  Aid^ — Baths  at  Helwan — 
Constantinople — Athens — Charm  of  drapery  seen  in  Egypt — Return 
home — Winter  of  1887-8  tries  Malta — Changed  plans — Intends  to  paint 
a  few  things  for  money,  not  portraits — Dangerously  ill — Sent  to  Naples 
— Impressed  with  beauty  of  natural  effects  in  South — Writes  from  Men- 
tone — Split  between  Grosvenor  Gallery  and  Secretaries — Refers  to  Burne- 
Jones'  future  place — Protests  against  Mammon  worship — Great  admira- 
tion for  Leighton — "Angel  and  Child"  (Death  crowning  Innocence)  to 
be  given  to  the  nation — Unexpected  strain  on  income — "Naples"  and 
"  View  of  St.  Agnese  from  Mentone"' — Next  winter  tried  Brighton — 
Feels  "really  an  old  man" — Tries  Surrey  in  winter  1890-1 — Red  chalk 
drawings — Paints  portraits  for  "Home  Arts" — "Court  of  Death" 
finished  by  eightieth  birthday — Mrs.  Thornycroft  the  sculptress — Dis- 
approval of  gambling — Admiration  of  John  Ruskin — Special  anxiety 
about  money — Sells  "A  Reverie" — Objects  to  members  of  aristocracy 
making  money  on  turf  or  by  battues — "Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity" 
painted  to  convey  gentler  influences  than  creeds  of  Churches — Bene- 
ficent healing  effect  produced  by  nature's  beauty  ....         160-191 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER  VII 

LEIGHTON 


PAGE 


Leighton's  death — Long  and  intimate  friendship  between  Watts  and 
Leighton.  Letters  from  Watts  after  Leighton's  death — Reference  to 
Tennyson,  Browning,  Rossetti,  at  the  times  of  their  deaths — Admiration 
for  completeness  in  Leighton's  art — Enthusiasm  for  Miss  Fortescue 
Brickdale's  work — Difference  between  the  natures  of  Watts  and  Leigh- 
ton — Keen  interest  in  Leighton's  house — Admiration  for  Leighton's 
sisters  —  Watts'  gifts  to  Leighton  House — Approves  "  Clytemnestra" 
being  purchased — Enthusiastic  admiration  for  sketches  in  plaster  for 
"Cymon  and  Iphigenia"  and  "Athlete  struggling  with  Python" — Watts 
lends  thirty  pictures  for  Exhibition  in  Leighton  House — Visit  to  Scotland 
— Serious  illness — "Time's  heavy  hand" — "  Most  things  are  an  affliction 
to  me " — Beautiful  second  childhood — "  I  think  aspiration  will  last  as 
long  as  there  is  consciousness" 192-206 


CHAPTER   VIII 
THE   LAST 
Joachim's  jubilee — End  near — Works  on  "Vital  Energy" — Death        .      207-210 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  Design  for  Cover. 

From  Wall  Painting  by  Q.  F.  V^XTTS— Figure  representing 
Humanity  gazing  upward  from  Earth's  Orbit  to  the 
Universe  beyond  (in  Leighton  House). 

2.  Portrait  of  G.  F.  Watts Frontispiece 

Reproduced  in  Colour  from  Painting  by  Cecil  Schott,  1887. 

3.  Portrait  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti     .        .       .        To  face  page    2 

From  Pencil  Copy  of  Miniature  by  Cecil  Schott. 

4.  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior »       »       4 

From  Pencil  Study  by  G.  F.  Watts /or  Large  Picture. 

5.  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior »       »       6 

From  Full-length  Picture  in  Oils,  Life  size,  by  G.  F.  Watts. 

6.  Mrs.   Hughes,   Mother  of  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior  and 

OF  Mr.  Thomas  Hughes,  Author  of  "Tom  Brown's 

School  Days."     Photogravure »        »        8 

7.  Mrs.  Hugh  Smith  (Miss  Constance  Adeane,  Niece  of 

the  Hon.  W.  Stanley) »        »      16 

From  Portrait  in  Oils  by  G.  F.  Watts. 

8.  Group  of  Heads »        »      20 

Reproduced  in   Colour  from  Miniature   Painting  on  Ivory  by 
G.  F.  Watts. 

9.  Miss  Mary  Kirkpatrick  Brunton.    Photogravure .        .      „        „      24 

From  small   Full-length  Portrait    in   Oils  by  G.    F.  Watts, 
dated  1842. 


xvu 


b* 


xviii  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

10.  Portrait  of  General  Sir  Frederick  Adam  .        .         To  face  page  30 

From  Drawing  in  Chalks  by  G.  F.  Watts,  1850. 

{Sir  F.  Adam,  born  in  1784,  entered  the  army  at  the 
age  of  eleven ;  at  fourteen  entered  upon  active  service 
against  the  French  itt  Holland.  As  youngest  General  in  the 
British  army  commanded  a  Brigade  at  Waterloo,  which  took 
the  most  important  part  in  attack  on  the  French  Imperial 
Guards,  whose  repulse  turned  the  fate  of  the  battle. ) 

11.  Portrait  of  G.  F.  Watts »        >»      32 

Taken  in  his  Studio,  l^^/\,  given  to  Author  in  1883. 

12.  Wall  of  Studio  in  Melbury  House  Garden        .        .      „        „      32 

Showing  hnlargements  in  Colotir  by  G.  F.  Watts,  of  Designs  by 
Flaxman  for  Dante's  ''Inferno'"  and  ''  Paradiso,"  1855, 
and  Casts  from  part  of  Pheidian  Frieze  from  Parthenon. 

13.  "Brynhildr" »       »      36 

Coloured  Reproduction  from  Oil  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts,  begun 
1880. 

14.  G.  F.  Watts'  Teachers „        „      48 

From  Casts  in  Melbury  House  Garden  Studio  of  the  fragments 
of  bas-reliefs  {Maidens  of  Athena),  from  the  Nike  Athena 
Temple  on  the  Acropolis,  Athens. 

15.  The  Hon.  William  Owen  Stanley,  Twin  Brother  of 

Lord  Stanley  of  Alderley  „        „      54 

From  Portrait  in  Oils,  executed  in  two  hours,  for  the  future 
monument  to  Mr.  Stanley,  1877,  eventually  placed  in  the  old 
church  in  Holyhead  in  1897. 

16.  Sketches  for  Stanley  Monument „       „      54 

By  G.  F.  Watts,  from  a  letter. 

17.  Monument  to  the  Hon.  W.  Owen  Stanley   .        .        •      „        >,      54 

By  Hamo  Thorn vcroft,    K.A.,  erected  by  desire  of  Ellin,  his 
wife,  in  the  Old  Church  at  Holyhead. 

18.  Pheidian  Frieze  on  Wall  of  Author's  Studio,  sur- 

mounted BY  Copies  of  Flaxman's  Designs        .       .      „        „      64 
By  G.  F.  Watts. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 

19.  Study  for  Figure  in  "Chaos" To  face  page  68 

From   Painting  in  Fresco  by  G.   F.   Watts  (ttaw  in  Leighton 
House). 

20.  Facsimiles  of  "  Scribbles  " „       „        80 

Written  dy  G.  F.  Watts. 

21.  "Greece  in  the  Lap  of  Egypt" „       „        82 

Frovi  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {now  in  Melbury  House). 

22.  Facsimiles  of  Notes  in  Writing „        „        84 

By  G.  F.  Watts. 

23.  "  Humanity  in  the  Lap  of  Earth  " „        „        98 

From  Wall  Paintifig  by  G.  F.  Watts  (now  in  Leighton  House). 

24.  "Assyria  and  Hindustan" ,        „      100 

From  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {iit  Melbtiry  House). 

25.  Figures  symbolical  of  the  Spirits  of  Progress  and 

non-Progress „       „      loi 

From  Wall  Paintings  by  G.  F.  Watts  {in  Melbury  House). 

26.  Mr.  Russell  Barrington „       „      102 

Reproduced  in    Colour  from   Portrait  in    Oils   begun   by    Mrs. 
Barrington  afid  finished  by  G.  F.  Watts. 

27.  "The  Roman  Empire" „        „       106 

Fro?n  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts.  Head  of  Symbolic  Figure 
from  Study  in  Chalks  of  Lady  Lilford  {Emma  Brandling) 
{in  Melbury  House). 

28.  "Time  Unveiling  Truth" "  .        .    „        „       112 

Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {iti  Melbury  House). 

29.  "Peace  and  War" „        „       116 

Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {in  Leighton  House). 

30.  "Peace  and  War" „        „      116 

Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {in  Leighton  House). 


XX  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

31.  Figure    meant    to    be   Symbolical   of   the    Mongol 

Empire To  face  page  118 

Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts  {in  Melbury  House). 

32.  Half-length  Figure  representing  Poetry   .  .  .  „  ,,122 

33.  Half-length  Figure  representing  Science.  .  .  „  ,,122 

34.  Half-length  Figure  representing  the  Arts  .  .  „  „      122 

35.  Head  of  an  Old  Man ,        „      163 

Executed  in  five  minutes  by  G.  F.  Watts,  in  Pastels  on  Flock 
Paper,     October  1886. 

36.  "Oh!  Who  will  o'er  the  Downs  so  Free"  .        .    „        „      168 

Reproduction   in  Colour  of  Copy   executed  in  Pastels  and  Oils 
from  Painting  lent  by  G.   F.  Watts  to  Author,   1886. 

37.  Portrait  of  G.  F.  Watts „        ,,184 

His  Picture  of  "  The  Court  of  Death  "  as  the  background. 


f 


J 


38.  Facsimiles  of  Notes  written  by  G.  F.  Watts      .        .    „       „      202 

39.  Head  of  G.  F.  Watts „        „      206 

From  Chalk  Drawing  by  Cv.ci'L  Schott. 

40.  "Aspiration" „       „      210 

From  Head  in  Chalks  by  G.  F.  Watts,  given  to  Author  in  1887. 


•V 


REMINISCENCES    OF 
G.   F.. WATTS 


CHAPTER    I 

FIRST   IMPRESSIONS 

A  LONG  time  ago — so  long  ago  it  seems  almost  to  belong 
to  a  previous  existence — I  was  sitting  one  afternoon  in 
Rossetti's  studio  watching  him  painting  on  the  "  Lady 
Lilith."  My  first  master,  not  counting  the  schoolroom 
drawing  master,  was  Ruskin,  who  was  very  kind  to  me. 
He  had  advised  me,  if  I  could  get  the  chance  of  studying 
with  Mr.  Arthur  Hughes,  to  do  so.  This  delightful  artist, 
belonging  to  the  pre-Raphaelite  school,  consented  to  take 
me  as  a  pupil.  As  part  of  my  art  education  Arthur  Hughes 
took  me  from  time  to  time  to  Rossetti's  studio,  where  I  met 
the  mother  of  the  four  distinguished  sons  and  daughters, 
also  the  great  Christina  herself.  On  this  particular  after- 
noon the  picture  just  completed,  "  The  Beloved,"  was  placed 
on  an  easel  in  the  middle  of  the  studio  for  a  few  friends  to 
view.  As  I  watched  Rossetti  painting  on  the  "  Lady  Lilith  " 
and  listened  as  he  talked  to  me  about  art,  I  thought  I  had 
never  before  heard  any  voice  of  the  same  curiously  beautiful  * 
deep-toned  quality.  Strong  and  grave  was  the  intonation, 
and  though  restrained  and  gentle,  vibrating  with  temperament. 

A 


2  REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Though  no  trace  of  a  foreign  accent  could  be  discerned, 
probably  it  was  his  Italian  origin  which  gave  to  the 
sound  the  particular  ring  it  had.  Rossetti's  eyes  and  this 
voice  and  a  lono"  brown  Noah's-Ark-like  coat  are  what  1 
remember  as  his  most  striking  characteristics.  The  voice 
alone  would  have  given  distinction  to  the  atmosphere  in 
his  studio.  This  seemed  to  me  an  enchanted  chamber — 
the  curious  quaint  beauty  of  the  furniture  and  ornaments, 
the  pictures  in  it  which,  like  the  voice  of  the  painter,  rang 
out  a  tune  unlike  all  others  ;  the  garden,  seen  through  a 
large  window  opening  nearly  down  to  the  ground,  a  garden 
that  might  have  been  a  hundred  miles  from  London — in- 
deed it  felt  to  me  still  farther — away  out  of  the  world  in  a 
fairy-land,  with  queer  animals  disporting  themselves  therein, 
all  seemed  to  centre  harmoniously  round  the  strong  person- 
ality of  the  being  who  reigned  there.  Steeped  with  the 
glamour  of  the  place,  I  sat  very  happily  watching  his  brush 
and  listening  to  his  vibrating  deep  voice. 

The  door  opened,  and  a  party,  consisting  of  one  man  and 
a  few  large  ladies,  came  in  to  see  the  newly-hnished  picture. 
I  remember  the  ladies  were  large  because  the  man  looked 
small  in  their  midst,  otherwise  I  have  no  recollection  of  their 
appearance.  The  one  figure  absorbed  all  my  attention. 
Habited  in  a  long  sealskin  coat  it  was  small  but  in  no  wise 
insignificant — on  the  contrary,  it  was  distinguished  in  ap- 
pearance. The  face  was  handsome,  with  a  serious  counte- 
nance suggesting  a  latent  weariness  and  melancholy  hidden 
under  a  crust  of  reserve.  His  words  were  few,  but  he 
gazed  intently  at  the  new  picture.  From  something  Rossetti 
had  said  when  the  party  entered  the  room  I  had  realised 
that  this  quiet  self-contained  personality  belonged  to 
(  Watts — Watts  the  painter  and  friend  of  my  friend  Mrs. 
Nassau  Senior  of  the  rippling  golden  hair  ;  of  Miss  Senior, 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 
By  Cecil  Schott 


ITTH8205!  JHI^a^.^  aTViAQ 


v». 


V 


FIRST    IMPRESSIONS  3 

surrounded  in  her  portrait  by  the  beautiful  sky  and  the  grand 
laurel  leaves,  put  in  as  the  great  Venetians  would  have 
painted  them  ;  of  Miss  Eden,  with  the  long  throat  and  rosy 
fair  English  colouring  ;  the  painter  of  yet  another  portrait 
which  had  bewitched  me  even  more  than  all  these,  "  A  lady 
singing."  I  had  met  and  greatly  admired  the  original  of  the 
painting,  Miss  Russell,  the  sister  of  my  father's  private 
secretary,  but  when  I  saw  her  portrait  on  the  walls  of  the 
Royal  Academy  I  had  quite  lost  my  heart  to  it.  It  was  not 
an  important  work,  but  it  was  so  very  much  Watts,  unlike 
any  painting  of  other  schools  or  individuals.  It  rendered 
that  particular  atmosphere  and  distinction  of  a  modern 
English  lady  in  a  fervent  yet  restrained  language  of  art. 
There  was  atmosphere  and  loose  texture  in  the  quality  of  the 
painting,  noble  truth  in  the  drawing,  and  the  special  charm 
of  spontaneity  in  the  brush  work.  A  silvery  grey  dress  with 
one  pink  rose  fastened  to  it  echoing  the  fair  pink  on  the 
cheek,  made  the  colouring  of  the  picture — a  slight  work  of 
a  great  master — containing,  however,  the  power  of  stamp- 
ing itself  on  the  memory  as  a  thing  of  beauty,  a  very  true 
test  of  greatness  in  a  work  of  art.  And  yet  another  gem  I 
remembered  which  helped  to  pile  up  the  interest  with  which 
the  figure  in  the  sealskin  coat  inspired  me.  I  had  only  then 
seen  it  once,  on  the  walls  of  the  Academy — the  painting 
on  panel  called  "Choosing,"  another  of  those  pictures  which 
once  seen  is  never  forgotten.  A  beautiful  fair  girl's  head 
and  a  perfect  throat  stretching  forward  towards  a  branch  of 
camellias ;  a  hand  slid  caressingly  under  one  of  the  deep 
pink  flowers,  the  smooth  enamel  leaves  painted  as  no  one 
but  Watts  could  paint  leaves.  These  pictures  were  the 
only  work  I  had  then  seen  painted  by  the  figure  standing 
looking  at  Rossetti's  picture,  but  these  were  enough  to 
single  him  out  as  one  apart  from  ordinary  mortals.      I  was 


4  REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

young,  and  art  was  my  passion,  so  I  felt  greatly  excited  and 
interested  in  watching  the  perpetrator  of  these  exquisite 
things.  From  the  corner  behind  the  canvas  of  the  "  Lady 
Lilith  "  I  watched  the  party  come  and  go. 

Some  years  passed.  Just  before  my  marriage  I  had  been 
seeing  my  friend  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior  frequently.  She  asked 
me  whether  I  would  not  like  to  see  Watts  once  in  the  old 
Little  Holland  House  which  was  about  to  be  pulled  down. 
She  gave  me  a  note  of  introduction,  and  Mr.  Barrington 
and  I  started  one  afternoon  in  June,  1868,  to  Melbury 
Road,  then  in  the  process  of  being  made.  The  carriage 
had  to  drive  over  bricks  and  mortar  and  the  roughest  of 
ground  to  reach  the  old  thatched  porch  of  Little  Holland 
House.  The  low  building  stood  in  melancholy  isolation  in 
the  midst  of  this  untidy  confusion.  Inside,  except  the  work 
in  the  studios  and  the  paintings  by  Watts  on  the  walls, 
everything  seemed  to  hang  on  its  last  thread.  I  suppose 
my  mind  was  too  full  of  other  things  at  that  moment,  for  I 
cannot  even  remember  the  pictures  I  saw  that  day,  only  that 
Watts  was  very  kind  and  talked  pleasantly,  and  would  insist 
on  seeing  me  to  the  porch,  which  I  tried  to  prevent  his 
doing  by  saying  good-bye  in  the  studio.  Mr.  Barrington 
had  remained  in  the  carriage,  as  he  said  he  never  knew 
what  to  say  to  artists  about  their  own  work.  I  did  not 
know  what  excuse  to  make  for  his  seemingf  indifference 
when  Watts  asked  whether  he  would  not  come  in. 

We  had  been  married  five  years  when,  after  an  illness 
I  had  had,  we  went  at  Easter  to  Freshwater.  Our  friend 
Mrs.  Ritchie,  then  Miss  Annie  Thackeray,  was  staying- 
there  at  that  time.^     Watts  had  built  his  house,  The  Briary, 

^  The  memory  cf  this  visit  to  Freshwater  still  conjures  up  charming  scenes. 
Osier-beds  spread  over  with  a  bloom  of  juicy  pink,  and  meadows  decked  with 
bright  gold  king  cups  where  we  sat  on  the  bent  trunk  of  a  willow  tree  reading 


MRS.  NASSAU  SENIOR 
From  Pencil  Drawing  by  G.  F.  Watts 


zA. 


MOTT-^HR  UA22AW  .2^M 
8J}f.V»      ..V.    yd  gniwBiQ  lions*!  monH 


FIRST    IMPRESSIONS  5 

and  again  my  dear  friend  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior  gave  us  a 
letter  to  him.  There  was  illness  at  The  Briary,  but  Watts 
met  us  outside  and  often  walked  with  us  in  the  lanes  and 
on  the  downs.  I  can  recall  his  figure  now  as  he  sauntered 
with  us  along  the  country  roads  in  the  soft  grey  hat  he 
always  wore  and  a  loose  cape  flying  in  the  wind.  He  was 
a  much  less  formidable  looking  person  than  the  Watts  in 
Rossetti's  studio. 

It  was  at  Freshwater  he  gave  me  my  first  lesson.  I  was 
painting  a  pretty  thatched  cottage  in  one  of  the  lanes  when 
he  opened  the  little  garden  gate  and  stood  over  my  easel. 
I  remember  his  saying  I  had  painted  the  old  chimney  of  the 
cottage  as  the  Venetians  would  have  painted  it — cleanly  and 
frankly  with  no  smudged  edges.  Besides  desiring  always 
to  see  the  best  in  everything,  Watts  had  a  natural  gift  for 
doing  so.  This  gave  a  very  flattering  tone  to  his  criticisms, 
and  these  have  at  times  unfortunately  raised  hopes  never  to 
be  realised.  It  was  not  insincerity  which  made  Watts  say 
nice  things  which  were  excessive  about  the  work  he  was 
shown  ;  it  was  a  genuine  wish  to  discover  anything  that 
might  be  good  in  it,  combined  with  an  absence  of  the  critical 
faculty.  The  mistake  he  made  was,  I  think,  that,  having 
a  habit  of  mind  which  depreciated  his  own  work,  he  did  not 
realise  the  weight  which  every  word  he  spoke  had  in  the 
minds  of  students,  who  not  unnaturally  exaggerated  the 
value  of  the  performances  he  had  praised.    I  do  not  remember 

"  The  Newcomes  "  ;  a  poetical  ball  at  Farringford,  where  the  music  was  soft  and 
low,  and  where  I  first  saw  the  beautiful  face  of  the  poet's  wife;  and  I  still  see 
a  clear  picture  of  Tennyson  waltzing  round  to  the  dreamy  music  with  a  pretty 
young  American  lady,  evidently  greatly  enjoying  the  dance ;  a  picnic  on  the 
downs  above  the  Needles,  when  Tennyson  took  me  to  the  spot  where,  lying 
down  on  the  edge  of  the  turf,  looking  over  straight  down  on  the  shore,  you  see 
waves  of  wonderful  colour,  emeralds,  sapphires,  and  amethysts,  flowing  up  to  the 
wall  of  the  white  chalk  cliff. 


6  REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

being  over-elated  by  Watts'  kindness,  for  I  had  just  got 
far  enough  to  know  that  I  could  paint  nothing  as  I  wanted 
to  paint  it ;  and,  being  critical  by  nature,  I  had  within  myself 
my  harshest  fault-finder.  But  his  sympathy  with  me  in 
my  small  efforts  certainly  tended  to  make  us  friends.  When 
we  were  leaving  Freshwater,  he  asked  us  not  to  forget  to 
come  to  see  him  in  his  studio  in  the  new  Little  Holland 
House  which  he  had  built  in  Melbury  Road.  I  had  no 
difficulty  in  remembering  to  do  so,  for  I  felt  he  was  already 
a  friend.  I  took  him  the  work  I  was  doing,  and  we  had 
long  talks  together,  when  he  explained  to  me  very  exhaus- 
tively his  views  about  his  own  art.  He  regretted  often 
during  these  conversations  not  having  any  one  to  help  him 
in  achieving  his  aims,  half  suggesting  that  I  might  perhaps 
be  able  to  do  so.  I  did  not  take  the  matter  up  at  the  time, 
but  after  discussing  it  with  Mr.  Barrington,  wrote  and  told 
Watts  if  I  could  in  any  way  help  him  I  should  be  proud  to 
do  so.  In  a  letter  dated  April  7,  1876,  L.  H.  H.,  Watts 
writes  :  "  A  thousand  thanks  for  your  offer.  I  don't  know 
but  what  you  might  help  me  with  some  advantage  to 
yourself,  because  any  one  who  does  help  me  must  go  pro- 
foundly into  the  matter,  and  if  real  study  has  any  charms 
for  you,  why,  perhaps,  you  might  be  willing  to  undergo 
some  stiff  and  stern  application  ;  but,  I  can  tell  you,  help 
to  me  in  the  works  I  have  proposed  to  myself,  and  indeed 
have  plunged  into,  would  be  no  child's  play.  If  you 
will  come  and  see  me  any  day  between  2.30  and  5  we 
may  talk  over  possibilities.  Thornycroft  the  sculptor  has 
commenced  to  build  two  semi-detached  houses  next  door 
to  me.  He  intends  to  live  in  one  and  let  or  sell  the 
other.  It  strikes  me  this  house  might  suit  you."  I  went 
one  day  soon  after  receiving  this  letter  to  see  him,  and 
Mr.  Barrington  arranged  to  take  the  house  that  was  being 


MRS.  NASSAU  SENIOR 
From  the  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


^OIVIH2  UA22AVI  .Z$IM 
glJfiW  .H  .O  yd  aniJnifi*^  sHj  moiH 


FIRST    IMPRESSIONS  7 

built  to  which  Watts  referred  in  his  letter.  I  felt  this  was 
indeed  a  delightful  opportunity  of  entering  into  the  highest 
precincts  of  art  under  the  most  helpful  auspices.  I  wrote 
these,  to  me,  most  interesting  facts  to  my  friend  Mrs.  Nassau 
Senior,  who  replied:  "What  a  comfort  it  is  to  me  that 
you  will  be  near  Watts,  to  urge  him  to  his  noblest  work 
and  to  stave  off  too  many  distractions  (or  should  I  say 
attractions) ! " 

I  have  always  viewed  our  friendship  with  Watts  as  a 
legacy  from  this  beautiful  friend,  of  a  nature  so  large,  so 
oenerous  and  tender-hearted — one  whose  name  will  ever  be 

o 

associated  with  those  who  have  most  befriended  young  girls 
of  all  classes.  In  the  full-length  portrait  which  Watts  painted 
of  her  she  is  represented  as  watering  and  bending  over  her 
flowers  with  loving  care.  He  told  me  he  had  tried  to  suggest 
in  this  picture  her  beneficent  gracious  nature. 

A  dark  day  came — March  24th — which  robbed  our  world 
of  her  bright,  loving  presence,  and  also  that  of  another 
equally  precious  to  his  friends — moreover,  a  very  shining 
light  to  the  world  beyond,  one  with  whom  we  had  lived  for 
years — my  brother-in-law,  Walter  Bagehot. 

It  was  under  these  sad  auspices  we  entered  the  life  that 
promised  to  be  so  full  of  interest  and  work. 


CHAPTER    II 

AIMS 

Watts  had  built  his  new  house  in  Melbury  Road,  in  one 
respect,  on  the  same  plan  as  that  on  which  Leighton  had 
built  his  house  in  Holland  Park  Road.  To  obviate  any 
possibility  of  staying  guests  there  was  only  one  bedroom, 
besides  those  for  servants/  Watts  had  gone  even  one  step 
further  than  Leighton  in  his  endeavours  to  secure  an  undis- 
turbed working  life.  In  the  new  Little  Holland  House  there 
was  but  one  sitting-room,  the  rest  of  the  ground  floor  being 
occupied  by  three  painting  studios  and  one  sculptor's  studio. 
He  had  been  forced  to  put  up  an  iron  house  in  his  garden, 
in  which  to  store  his  work  and  materials  during  the  building 
of  the  new  house,  on  account  of  his  having  to  move  out  of 
the  old  one  somewhat  suddenly.  Shortly  before  the  time  we 
became  his  neighbours,  Watts  had  had  to  face  life  from  a 
fresh  point  of  view.  Circumstances  had  occurred  which  made 
him  more  than  ever  desirous  of  consecrating  the  whole  of 
his  life  to  his  work.  The  aims  and  ambitions  which  had 
from  the  first  guided  his  art,  had  strengthened  as  his  gifts 
ripened.  He  repeatedly  told  us  that  his  sole  desire  was 
to  give  his  entire  life  unremittingly  and  with  single-hearted 
earnestness  to  his  work  ;  to  endeavour  by  so  doing  to  sub- 
stantiate ideas  which  he  conceived  might  and  ought  to  be 
expressed  in  the  language  of  art ;  to  use  his  gifts  in  the  cause 

^  In  several  letters,  when  writing  on  the  subject,  he  made  use  of  the  expression 
"to  avoid  complications." 


MRS.  HUGHES 
From  the  Painting  by  G.  F.  "Watts 


2HHOUH  .: 


AIMS  9 

of  raising  art  to  the  same  level  of  culture  in  England  as  that 
on  which  great  poetry  and  great  music  stand  ;  in  fact,  to 
bring  the  same  high  faculties  of  the  human  mind  and  spirit 
to  bear  on  creations  in  painting  and  sculpture  that  are  the 
sources  of  the  more  purely  intellectual  and  abstract  expres- 
sions in  writing  and  sound.  No  less  from  patriotic  than  from 
artistic  aspirations  did  Watts  long  to  see  the  art  of  England 
placed  in  the  first  rank  among  the  serious  concerns  and 
interests  of  his  country. 

By  most  of  his  fellow-artists,  as  well  as  by  the  world 
in  general,  Watts,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  viewed  as  a 
portrait-painter  only,  though  occupying  a  separate  and  rather 
a  higher  position  than  most.  I  remember  more  than  one 
artist  speaking  of  him  as  such,  and  rather  contesting  his 
wisdom  in  attempting  any  other  line  of  art.  One  of  the 
greatest  in  the  pre-Raphaelite  school  was  of  this  opinion, 
and  I  remember  his  saying  to  me,  referring  to  Watts' 
portraits,  "  He  is  no  good  at  anything  else."  The  pre- 
Raphaelites  had  portioned  out  various  vocations  to  the  several 
members  of  their  body,  a  few  only  having  reserved  to  them- 
selves the  privilege  of  painting  pictures.  The  brotherhood 
would  doubtless  have  accorded  to  Watts  a  place  as  their 
portrait-painter,  but  Watts  was  not  a  pre-Raphaelite,  though 
he  sympathised  in  a  measure  with  the  principles  which  insti- 
gated the  feeling  of  the  movement.^  Moreover,  he  did  not 
intend  only  to  paint  portraits.  One  of  his  intimate  acquaint- 
ances informed  us  that  Watts  ought  to  paint  portraits  ;  he 
would  never  make  money  by  anything  else,  and  he  ought 
to  make  money.  It  can  easily  be  understood  we  felt  no  in- 
clination to  discuss  the  matter  further  with  this  individual, 

^  The  influence  of  this  school  is  to  be  traced  in  several  of  Watts'  pictures,  but 
most  notably  in  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Hughes,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior, 
and  of  the  author  of  "Tom  Brown's  School  Days."     See  illustration. 


lo         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Watts  being  clearly  the  only  judge  of  his  own  pecuniary 
necessities.  The  view  he  took  as  regarded  his  first  duty 
in  life  was  other  than  that  of  aiming  at  making  money,  so 
far  as  he  explained  it  to  us.  Whether  he  made  money  or 
not  was  of  little  consequence  to  him,  provided  he  had  suf^- 
cient  nieans  to  meet  his  own  very  modest  requirements  and 
the  necessary  expenses  involved  by  his  work.  He  had  a 
great  horror  of  extravagance  ;  he  had  a  great  horror  of  ever 
falline  into  debt.  He  often  said  he  would  like  to  have 
money  to  give  away  in  order  to  alleviate  suffering,  but  he 
considered  his  first  duty  was  to  give  to  the  world  the  best 
that  was  in  him,  and  to  present  to  the  public  the  fruits  of 
his  gifts  and  of  his  labour.  He  had  already,  as  is  well 
known,  offered  to  paint  the  history  of  the  world  in  a  large 
public  building  for  the  price  only  of  the  materials  he  used, 
and  that  offer  had  been  refused ;  but,  nothing  daunted,  he 
still  aimed  at  working  out  such  ideas  and  conceptions  in  art 
which  would  elevate  the  minds  of  his  own  countrymen,  and 
by  presenting  them  to  his  nation  he  hoped  to  carry  out  his 
views  of  patriotism.  Watts  had  very  decided  ideas  and 
feelings  as  to  the  duty  of  every  man  of  every  class  effecting 
something  for  the  good  of  his  country,  and  all  he  asked  was 
to  be  allowed  to  work  and  to  make  his  art  a  factor  in  en- 
nobling the  thought  and  feeling  of  his  generation.  His 
letters,  written  when  he  was  about  sixty  years  of  age,  are 
full  of  sentences  expressing  this  desire  to  benefit  mankind 
through  his  art,  and  to  live  an  unmolested  working  life. 
There  were  two  things  he  wrote  that  his  experience  proved 
to  be  worth  living  for — one  to  do  as  much  for  humanity  as 
possible,  and  the  other  to  have  friends.  Much  that  the  world 
held  to  be  valuable  seemed  to  be  within  his  reach  were  he 
to  study  the  taste  of  the  age.  He  did  not  think  it  would 
be   difficult    to  achieve  a   certain  amount  of  celebrity,  and 


AIMS  II 

it  would  be  still  easier,  he  had  proved  to  himself,  to  make 
a  really  large  income.  '  Little  as  these  objects  had  appeared 
to  him  formerly,  they  seemed  to  become  less  and  less  valu- 
able. A  sense  of  great  deserving  would  indeed  be  a  treasure. 
When  recoverinof  from  the  first  real  illness  he  had  after 
we  became  neighbours,  he  was  much  fretted  at  the  loss  of 
workine  time  it  had  caused.  He  wrote  that  it  made  him 
feel  more  than  ever  (if  that  was  possible)  how  absolutely 
necessary  it  was  for  him  to  put  aside  every  consideration 
'  excepting  work.  He  did  not  find  himself  with  any  changed 
ideas,  aspirations,  or  resolutions.  He  had  discovered  that 
these  were  absolutely  all  fixed,  but  he  had  felt  he  had  stood 
at  death's  door — it  had  been  ajar  ;  when  next  he  should  find 
himself  there  it  would  be  well  open,  and  he  must  be  ready 
to  go  in.  This  he  felt  to  be  with  him  certain  knowledge. 
It  made  no  change  in  his  mind,  his  thoughts,  or  objects ; 
but  he  felt  he  must  put  on  more  pace  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  burning  desire  he  had  to  do  certain  things.  In  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  men  felt  as  he  did,  not  especially  at  that 
moment  but  for  years  past,  they  went  into  a  monastery  and 
gave  themselves  up  to  mortification  and  forms  of  discipline. 
He  did  not  feel  the  slightest  inclination  to  such  excesses. 
In  his  opinion,  though  very  sincere  indications  of  seeking 
after  the  right,  they  were  childish  and  even  selfish  ;  but  he 
did  wish  to  set  aside  all  worldly  and  ordinary  objects,  living 
for  the  best  he  knew  of,  as  if  he  only  saw  the  outside  world, 
and  the  outside  world  only  saw  him  through  a  grille. 

On  one  summer  evening  we  were  standing  on  the  lawn 
close  to  his  sculptor's  studio,  after  he  had  finished  his  day's 
work.  He  had  been  labouring  on  the  large  sketch  of  the 
equestrian  statue  which  the  Duke  of  Westminster  had  asked 
Watts  to  execute  for  him  representing  the  Duke's  ancestor, 
Hugh  Lupus.     At  that  time  Watts,  having  made  the  small 


12  REMINISCENCES  OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

original  sketch,  which  afterwards  he  worked  out  in  heroic 
size,  naming  it  "  Physical  Energy,"  ^  wished  to  work  out  the 
statue  for  the  Duke  of  Westminster  from  this  small  and 
very  fine  sketch.  On  that  evening  he  was  explaining  to 
me  that  he  was  aiming  at  expressing  something  more  than 
the  mere  portrait  of  the  first  ancestor  of  the  Grosvenors — 
the  gros-veneur  who  had  come  over  from  France  and  had 
been  given  tracts  of  marshy  land  in  Wales.  The  idea  of 
carrying  out  the  work  merely  as  a  portrait  of  the  Duke's 
ancestor  did  not  interest  Watts  so  much  as  embodying  into 
the  commission  he  had  undertaken  the  idea  of  "  the  human 
will  bridling  in  brute  force,"  which  had  inspired  the  small 
sketch.^  He  told  me  that  it  did  not  interest  him  to  do 
work  which  merely  appealed  to  the  eye,  and  did  not  suggest 
ideas  to  the  mind.  He  ended  by  exclaiming  with  some 
excitement,  "  I  am  nothing.  Oh !  you  will  find  out  I  am 
nothing !  I  have  no  genius — no  facility  :  any  one  could  do 
better  work  if  they  sacrificed  everything  to  it  as  I  do !  One 
thing  alone  I  possess,  and  I  never  remember  the  time  I 
was  without  it — an  aim  towards  the  highest,  the  best,  and 
a  burning  desire  to  reach  it.  If  I  were  asked  to  choose 
whether  I  would  like  to  do  something  good,  as  the  world 
judges  popular  art,  and  receive  personally  great  credit  for  it, 
or,  as  an  alternative,  to  produce  something  which  should  rank 
with  the  very  best,  taking  a  place  with  the  art  of  Pheidias 
or  Titian,  with  the  highest  poetry  and  the  most  elevating 
music,  and  remain  unknown  as  the  perpetrator  of  the  work, 
I  should  choose  the  latter."  At  this  lapse  of  time  these 
words  may  perhaps  not  be  exactly  those  Watts  used,  but  I 

1  Eventually  the  statue  was  called  "  Vital  Energy." 

2  The  Duke  of  Westminster,  however,  preferred  the  more  distinct  idea  of  a 
portrait  of  Hugh  Lupus,  so  the  equestrian  statue  now  at  Eaton  Hall  was  finished, 
and  Watts  then  began  on  an  enlargement  of  his  small  sketch,  the  cast  of  which  is 
to  be  placed  near  Cecil  Rhodes'  grave. 


AIMS  13 

remember  this  scene  so  vividly,  and  what  he  said,  that  they 
are  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  same.^  Whatever  else  I 
did  or  did  not  find  in  Watts  during  those  many  years  of 
friendship,  unwavering  consistency  in  aiming  at  the  highest, 
unvarying  industry  in  endeavouring  to  reach  it,  I  did  find 
was  the  keynote  of  his  art. 

Sitting  over  his  fire  one  winter  evening  in  those  early 
days,  arranging  with  his  fingers,  as  was  his  wont,  the  folds  of 
his  long  grey  coat  in  good  lines  as  if  he  were  modelling,  when 
he  had  as  usual  been  depreciating  his  own  powers,  he  said, 
I  remember,  that  he  was  like  a  coarse  piece  of  stuff  through 
which  was  run  one  golden  thread.  He  longed  for  that  golden 
thread  to  guide  his  whole  life,  but  he  felt  nothing  but  that  he 
was  such  a  very  poor  creature.  I  forget  whether  he  referred 
to  George  Herbert's  lines,  but  as  George  Herbert  was  very 
much  to  me,  I  have  always  associated  this  conversation  with 
the  lines  in  the  "  Man's  Medley."  The  absolute  consistency 
with  which  Watts  ever  followed  his  high  aims  in  art  is  the 
more  admirable  on  account  of  the  very  small  amount  of 
physical  vitality  he  possessed,  which  was  in  part  the  cause 
of  his  excessive  distrust  of  self  The  almost  morbid  feeling 
of  shame  which  so  often  came  over  him,  he  told  me  went 
so  far  at  times  as  to  stretch  over  those  that  belonged  to  him. 
In  1886  I  remember  his  saying,  "It  is  a  strange  thing,  but 
as  soon  as  anything  belongs  to  me  I  feel  inclined  to  think 
little  of  it." 

In   1885   public  events,   about  which  he  generally  took  a 

^  In  a  letter  he  wrote,  dated  April  2,  1904,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later,  he  writes  of  his  distaste,  "  almost  pain,"  of  finding  himself  for  ever  being 
brought  before  the  public  notice.  He  never  wished  nor  worked  for  it,  and,  if 
circumstances  had  permitted,  would  have  done  his  work  as  Pictor  Ignotus,  leaving 
it  to  say  what  it  might  when  he  should  have  done  with  it.  He  adds  he  is  full 
of  maladies,  some  big  enough  to  be  serious,  and  others  serious  enough  to  be  great 
inconveniences,  but  he  is  able  to  work,  and  as  eager  to  improve  as  ever,  and  that's 
about  all.     He  was  then  eighty-seven  ! 


14         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

pessimistic  view,  were  not  very  cheering.  He  writes  he  was 
always  a  pessimist,  but  he  thinks  every  one  must  be  feeling 
pretty  low  just  then.  This  made  him  feel  so  much  more 
anxious  to  be  worth  a  little  more.  He  feels  so  wretchedly 
small  —  a  survival  of  the  unfittest.  "I  hear,"  he  adds, 
*' around  me  the  tramp  of  armed  men,  and  the  hurry  of 
others  hastening  to  claim  the  right  to  live,  and  feel,  I  can't 
tell  you  what  a  desire  to  be  among  them  somehow.  If  I 
had  the  singer's  gift  I  would  lend  them  some  aid,  but,  as 
it  is,  I  almost  feel  too  small  to  live,  and  very  often  life  is 
a  positive  pain  to  me  for  want  of  mental  lungs  powerful 
enough  to  breathe  the  strong  air.  What  a  nuisance  it  is  to 
be  less  than  oneself!"  From  a  child  he  had  ever  had  this 
feeling  of  distress  with  respect  to  his  achievements  being  so 
far  behind  his  aims  and  desires.  He  told  me  that  when  he 
was  only  fifteen  years  old  he  remembered  feeling  over- 
whelmed with  shame  at  not  having  already  achieved  some- 
thing.^ Watts,  however,  never  allowed  this  self-depreciation 
to  mar  his  energy  nor  check  his  ardent  desire  to  improve. 
He  was  ever  true  to  that  golden  thread  which  he  recognised 
as  running  through  his  nature  despite  the  distrust  and  self- 
despisings.  Every  thought,  habit,  or  study  that  might  induce 
this  golden  thread  to  assert  its  influence  on  his  art  he  would 
encourage.  He  wrote  in  very  early  days  of  our  friendship, 
that  he  thought  the  habit  of  thinking  upon  a  great  theme 
must  induce  a  habit  of  thinking  nobly.  He,  though  verbally 
dumb,  felt  the  necessity  of  uttering  his  thoughts,  which  were 

'  As  quite  a  little  boy  he  had  drawn  horses  with  chalk  or  anything  that  would 
mark  on  walls  or  gateways.  The  first  real  gratification  he  received  from  sympathy 
and  appreciation  was  while  he  was  studying  at  the  Royal  Academy  schools.  He 
told  me  that  one  day  when  the  master  came  to  his  drawing-board  he  looked  at 
what  Watts  had  done,  and,  holding  it  up  in  view  of  the  whole  class,  said,  ''  Now, 
that  is  how  I  like  to  see  a  drawing  done."  He  referred  to  the  clean  precision  of 
the  line. 


AIMS  15 

not  always  grovelling.  But  artists  speak  a  dead  language  In 
which  power  of  expression  is  difficult  to  acquire,  and  even 
if  they  master  something  of  that,  the  loftiest  range  of  thought 
is  denied  them,  as  nobody  cares  for  what  they  might  be  able 
to  do,  and  consequently  their  efforts  find  no  purchasers,  and 
everyday  needs  oblige  them  to  give  their  lives  to  the  produc- 
tion of  such  wares  as  may  find  favour.  "  Happier  the  poet !  " 
In  1885  Watts  wrote  that  he  was  most  strongly  impressed 
with  the  reality  of  Miss  Alexander's  work.  It  seemed  to 
him  to  be  far  the  most  real  thing  he  knew,  so  sincere  and 
true  to  the  producer's  feeling  that  every  defect  is  compen- 
sated for,  and  Watts  put  the  result,  therefore,  where  Ruskin 
did.  He  was  trying  then  at  Brighton  to  do  absolutely  simple 
work,  setting  aside  grounds  and  methods,  and  every  con- 
sideration but  simple  aim.  He  felt  a  certain  sense  of  eman- 
cipation, but  the  things  he  considered  mere  trifles.  He 
continues  :  "  I  wonder  whether  the  heroic  strain  which  has 
filled  the  air,  and  which  gives  me  the  same  sort  of  sensation 
that  the  '  Dead  March  in  Saul '  does,  will  breed  anything 
heroic  in  art !  I  don't  know  whether  the  heroic  sentiment 
has  ever  really  reproduced  itself  in  art.  Perhaps  the 
Parthenon  especially  was  the  outcome  of  that  sentiment, 
nothing  later.  The  religious  sentiment  from  Giotto  to 
Michael  Angelo  certainly  inspired  the  Tuscan  and  Roman 
schools.  Splendid  commercial  and  warlike  successes  did 
impress  a  splendid  character  on  the  Venetian  Art,  but  neither 
of  these  answered  to  the  heroic  sentiment,  different  from 
religious  devotion,  but  highly  devotional  ;  not  depending 
upon  the  success  of  enterprise,  nor  by  any  means  attending 
success,  but  worthy  to  succeed  because  generous  and  self- 
sacrificing.  This  has  certainly  inspired  much  poetry  but 
very  little  art,  perhaps  because  of  technical  difficulties,  the 
means  of  expression  requiring  recurrence  to  a  lower  range 


i6         REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

of  conditions,  the  copying  of  ordinary  forms  and  effects.  If 
artists  could  acquire  knowledge  enough  to  be  independent 
of  the  outward  ordinary,  able  to  depend  upon  memory  and 
draw  upon  imagination  without  losing  truth  (who  will  not 
suffer  herself  to  be  ignored !)  and  without  repetition,  the 
thought  might  have  full  swing."  Watts  made  a  line  of  study 
for  himself  on  these  principles,  which  he  discussed  constantly 
with  me.  Painting  portraits,  he  would  say,  had  been  of  the 
greatest  service  to  him.  It  had  given  him  an  experience 
of  form,  and  had  shown  him  possibilities  in  colouring,  and 
had,  moreover,  obviated  his  falling  into  any  mannerism  as 
regarded  form.  His  own  strong  preferences  being  for  the 
Pheidlan  character  of  structure,  he  might  have  missed  much 
of  interest,  which  he  learnt  to  sympathise  with  and  admire 
in  other  classes  of  form,  had  he  not  had  the  apprenticeship 
of  portrait-painting  to  teach  him  to  look  out  for  individuality 
as  well  as  for  beauty.  The  apprenticeship  cost  him  much. 
It  was  to  him  often  something  very  like  torture  having  to 
paint  portraits.^  I  traced  the  extraordinary  interest  I  found 
existing  in  Watts'  work  to  the  combination  in  his  painting 
of  this  knowledge,  acquired  by  constant  industry  and  study, 
with  the  due  encouragement  he  gave  his  instinctive  sense 
for  form  and  colour.  He  never  allowed  an  effect  either  in 
nature  or  art  to  pass  him  by  without  consolidating  it  in  his 
store  of  knowledge  through  the  process  of  reasoning  out  its 
cause.  He  turned  his  mind  on  to  his  instincts.  The  gift 
for  design  was  quite  instinctive  in  Watts'  genius.  I  do  not 
think  it  was  in  his  power  to  make  an  ignoble  composition. 
This  I  had  realised  when  I  first  saw  his  work ;  but  on  closer 
intimacy  with  It,  as  I  watched  the  pictures  day  by  day,  and 

^  He  said  the  moment  when  relatives  and  friends  came  to  inspect  the  portrait 
was  quite  torture.  "  You  stand  first  on  one  foot,  then  on  the  other,  with  nothing 
to  say — waiting  for  the  verdict.  When  it  comes  it  is  generally  the  one  thing  that 
is  least  bad  in  the  painting  which  is  most  criticised." 


MRS.  HUGH  SMITH 
From  the  Painting  by  G.  F.  "Watts 


rii  IM^   HOUH  .255M 
V  .H  .O  yd  aniinifc^i  srfj  moiH 


-l^^^*. 


w 


AIMS  17 

as  the  designs  developed  through  the  fitting  in  and  adding 
of  detail,  I  realised  more  and  more  that  they  were  worked 
out  through  a  principle  as  well  as  by  his  instinctive  genius. 
Watts  would  say  that  the  best  things  always  come  by  acci- 
dent, but  that  an  artist  should  remember  that  a  principle 
lies  at  the  root  of  the  success  of  the  accident ;  and  once 
that  principle  was  worked  out  and  secured  in  the  mind,  the 
artist  could  possess  his  accident  and  repeat  it,  in  this  wise 
amassing  a  store  of  experience  from  the  most  spontaneous 
impressions  and  from  the  most  unpremeditated  touches.  If 
I  were  asked  to  put  into  few  words  in  what  lay  the  secret 
of  Watts'  success  as  an  artist  (given  his  natural  gifts),  I  should 
say  it  was  a  genius  for  making  the  most  of  every  oppor- 
tunity/ He  learnt  from  everything  and  every  one  he  met. 
His  mind  was  eminently  earnest  and  humble,  always  in  an 
open  attitude  to  receive  impressions,  acquire  knowledge,  and 
to  rectify  error  in  himself. 

Watts  would  often  criticise  the  methods  of  teaching  in  the 
art  schools  of  that  day,  saying  that  the  students  were  set 
to  learn  precisely  what  could  not  be  taught  in  a  school,  and 
the  grammar  of  principles  in  which  they  could  be  instructed 
was  never  touched  upon.  A  living  model  was  placed  before 
them,  and  students  were  given  hours — indeed  days — to  make 
copies  of  the  model.  Though  this  might  more  or  less  train 
the  eye,  as  any  work  from  nature  does,  it  did  not,  without 
further  teaching,  instil  any  knowledge  to  the  mind,  nor  fix 
any  facts  in  the  memory  which  could  later  help  a  student 
to  carry  out  his  own  ideas  and  conceptions.     It  did  not  teach 

1  In  those  days  Watts  would  frequently  in  the  afternoons  visit  the  Aquarium 
at  Westminster.  It  taught  him  much  in  his  study  of  the  human  form  to  watch 
the  acrobatic  performances  which  took  place  there.  He  took  an  interest  in  Zazelle, 
the  girl  who  was  shot  from  the  cannon,  and  painted  a  striking  head  of  her.  He 
greatly  admired  her  courage  and  the  calm  composure  with  which  she  met  the 
danger  to  life,  which  she  told  him  every  performance  of  this  feat  entailed. 

B 


i8         REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.   WATTS 

him  the  relative  proportions  of  the  bones,  nor  the  form 
muscles  took  in  different  actions  of  the  body,  nor  the  action 
the  body  takes  under  the  influence  of  various  feelings  and 
emotions.  He  was  of  opinion  that  a  model  should  be  used 
in  a  school  in  order  that  the  master  should  exemplify  these 
facts  on  the  living  form — demonstrating  them  as  the  model 
took  various  positions,  the  students  meanwhile  making  notes 
or  very  slight  sketches.  Real  finish  in  execution  could  better 
be  acquired  by  studying  from  "still  life."  Once  the  hand 
is  able  to  transcribe  the  impressions  taken  in  by  the  eye 
through  conscientious  copying  of  any  object  before  it,  and 
the  mind  has  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  human  form  and 
countenance,  and  of  the  various  actions  and  expressions 
possible  to  them,  also  the  influence  these  have  on  attitude 
and  features,  then  the  student  is  able  to  draw  the  figure 
intelligently,  and  amass  for  himself  data  which  will  serve  him 
in  origmal  composition.  Watts  thought  it  distinctly  de- 
teriorating to  a  student  to  be  made  to  copy  the  same  model 
in  the  same  attitude  for  hours  together.  It  encouraged  a 
mechanical  and  mindless  habit  of  occupation,  the  thoughts 
being  induced  to  wander  away  from  the  work  in  hand. 
No  fresh  impressions  were  taken  in,  and  no  fresh  ideas 
were  suggested,  so  the  student  naturally  thought  of  other 
things  less  dull.  With  Watts,  study — and  he  remained  an 
earnest  student  to  the  end — meant  putting  his  whole  self 
into  his  work,  moreover  acquiring  as  much  knowledge  and 
exercising  as  much  memory  as  would  enrich  that  self  which 
his  genius  forced  into  the  service  of  art. 

He  had  been  brought  up  as  a  child,  he  told  me,  in  an 
atmosphere  strictly  evangelical  and  Sabbatarian.  The  Sun- 
days, he  said,  were  very  dull  days.  Still  the  effect  of  this 
early  religious  training,  as  on  Ruskin,  was  stamped  deeply 
into    his    nature.       When    his    gifts   as    an    artist  gradually 


AIMS  19 

developed  and  he  realised  the  deep  joy  he  felt  in  beauty,^ 
and  the  intense  interest  and  excitement  which  the  endea- 
vour to  express  it  aroused  in  him,  his  scrupulous  conscience, 
backed  by  the  early  strict  religious  training,  was  inspired 
with  a  sense  that  it  was  his  duty  to  give  back  some  gift  to 
the  world  in  return,  it  might  almost  be  said  in  his  case,  in 
expiation  for  the  sensuous  enjoyment  that  he  as  a  born 
artist  experienced  in  working  at  his  art.  Notwithstanding 
the  labour  it  cost  him,  nothing  in  life  could  compare  in  joy 
to  the  delight  of  revelling  in  beauty.  Those  alone  who  have 
known  the  passionate  love,  the  engrossing  entrancement 
which  art  can  inspire,  the  intense  interest  a  born  artist 
feels  in  his  work — even  in  the  actual  manipulation  of  the 
brush,  can  gauge  truly  the  amount  of  merit  to  be  allotted  to 
one  who  sacrifices  much  that  the  world  esteems  as  most 
enviable  to  the  uninterrupted  pursuance  of  it.  To  work  is 
a  necessity  ;  it  is  a  craving  in  the  nature  which  demands  to 
be  satisfied,  or  life  becomes  disjointed — a  failure — unlived  ! 
"  Va !  your  human  talk  and  doings  are  a  tame  jest ;  the  only 
passionate  life  is  in  form  and  colour."^  No  one  ever  realised 
this  state  of  feeling  more  than  did  Watts  ;  but,  with  a  more 
intellectual  faculty  than  is  bestowed  on  many  artists,  he  also 
realised  that  the  pursuit  which  his  nature  enforced  as  a  per- 
emptory necessity,  ought  to  influence  others  beneficially, 
and  to  take  a  place  among  the  levers  for  good  in  modern 
civilisation,  as  it  did  in  the  Greek  and  early  Italian  civilisa- 
tions. He  did  not  seek  to  teach  through  an  obviously  did- 
actic treatment  of  a  subject.  Art,  he  felt,  could  teach  her 
highest  lesson  by  being  herself  treated  nobly.      A  subject 

^  He  would  tell  me  that  often  at  the  sight  of  an  exquisite  scene  in  nature, 
or  even  of  some  passage  of  colour  in  a  blue  distance  (blue  was  the  colour  which 
gave  him  most  delight),  or  the  pathetic  loveliness  in  a  baby,  or  any  very  young 
thing,  his  eyes  would  fill  with  tears  from  the  emotion  he  felt. 

2  Cosimo.     "  Romola,"  George  Eliot. 


20  REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

should  tend  to  elevate  by  speaking  the  noble  language 
of  Nature  in  her  most  impressive  moods,  the  meanwhile 
associating  such  moods  with  ideas  which  spring  from  high 
instincts  in  human  nature. 

As  regarded  his  general  education,  Watts  was  self-taught 
— but  how  well  taught !  He  was  possessed  naturally  of  a 
subtle,  finely-pointed,  distinguishing  mind,  as  well  as  of  rare 
artistic  instincts.  Industry  never  was  more  wisely  guided. 
He  gave  me  (I  have  them  still)  the  sheets  of  paper  on  which 
he  wrote  his  German  exercises  after  he  had  grown  up  and 
was  working  hard  at  his  art,  to  show  me  what  pains  he  had 
taken  in  learning  the  German  letters.  The  change  in  his 
English  handwriting  which  took  place  between  the  time 
when  he  was  twenty  and  sixty  tells  volumes.  He  gave  me 
the  following  copy  of  the  letter  he  wrote  when  presenting 
the  picture  of  "The  Good  Samaritan"  to  Manchester,  a 
testimony  of  admiration  to  Thomas  Wright. 

"The  picture  I  have  painted  as  a  testimony  of  respect 
and  admiration  for  the  truly  heroic  conduct  of  Thomas 
Wright,  I  wish  to  present  to  his  friends  and  admirers,  a 
range  that  will  doubtless  comprise  the  whole  town  of  Man- 
chester. The  work  in  itself  may  be  of  trifling  merit,  but  it 
comes  from  one  who  would  give  more,  but  that  his  hand 
lacks  means,  and,  as  a  testimony  of  sympathy  and  respect 
from  a  stranger,  may  perhaps  be  gratifying  to  Thomas 
Wright  and  his  friends.  But  that  I  am  like  Rosalind,  out 
of  suit  with  fortune,  I  would  complete  my  work  by  putting 
it  into  a  suitable  frame." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  trace  any  resemblance  in  the 
handwriting  of  this  letter  to  that  of  the  letters  addressed 
to  me  from  the  year  1876.  Even  the  short  scrawls  in 
pencil  on  scraps  of  paper  hastily  torn  off  from  the  nearest 
piece  at  hand  that  he  sent   in   constantly,  asking  me  some 


GROUP  OF  HEADS 
From  Miniature  by  G.  F.  Watts 


aaAHH  HO  quo5io 

etJfiW  .H  .O  yd  9'iuJfiitiiM  moiH 


".>'•-?  j7:!>;y<;  '-jK.-i''- 


ifi 


AIMS  21 

question,  or  whether  I  could  come  in  to  look  at  something 
at  once,  were  in  the  handwriting  of  a  very  cultured  person. 
Still  greater  is  the  difference  shown  by  a  letter  which  he 
had  begun  but  not  finished,  pasted  on  the  back  of  the 
ivory  of  the  miniatures  he  gave  me.  No  greater  proof 
could  be  found  of  what  self-teaching  can  do  than  can  be 
traced  in  Watts'  life,  nor  of  the  immense  value  of  a  central 
aim  towards  which  all  secondary  interests  should  pay  obeis- 
ance. He  distinguished  in  very  early  days  the  worth  of 
that  "golden  thread"  which  inspired  him  with  aims  towards 
the  highest  in  art.  He  used  his  intellect,  his  artistic  gifts, 
all  in  the  service  of  that  "golden  thread"  which  gave  him 
an  insight  into  the  best,  the  noblest,  the  most  unselfish  feel- 
ings :  into  the  refinement  of  the  highest  sensibilities,  and  into 
the  charm  of  the  most  polished  manners,  no  less  than  into 
the  secrets  of  the  beauty  and  nobility  of  great  art. 


CHAPTER   III 

GENIUS 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  write  of  those  aims  to  which 
Watts  consciously  aspired,  for  I  have  but  to  re-read  his  letters 
and  I  find  them  amply  described.  It  is  another  matter  to 
write  of  his  genius.  Instead  of  interpreting  it  in  any  fashion 
in  words  or  writing,  he  denied  its  existence  "  I  have  not  a 
scrap  of  genius,"  he  would  say  and  write.  "  You  have  genius 
— I  have  none,"  an  announcement  which,  as  may  be  easily 
conceived,  I  received  with  amused,  though  perhaps  patient, 
incredulity.  The  wealth  of  genius  which  Watts  possessed 
was  so  innate,  so  part  of  himself,  that  he  was,  I  think, 
unconscious  of  the  existence  of  his  riches.  Feeling  himself 
unlike  others  in  many  respects,  feeling  also  a  want  of  the 
kind  of  everyday  facility  which  many  inferior  artists  possess, 
and  having  a  distrustful,  self-depreciating  attitude  of  mind 
regarding  all  he  was  and  all  he  did,  he  viewed  the  dissimi- 
larity between  himself  and  others  as  proving  his  own  in- 
feriority. His  taste  and  aspirations  also  leading  him  to 
dwell  on  the  very  best  things  that  have  been  produced  in  the 
world's  history  of  art  and  literature,  any  comparison  with 
these  and  his  own  work  depressed  him  greatly,  and  led 
to  belittlements  of  self.  Moreover,  as  is  often  the  case 
with  those  gifted  with  rare  instincts  and  imagination  which 
are  outside  and  beyond  the  conscious  working  of  their 
minds.   Watts    had   a   certain   curiosity  about   himself.      In 


GENIUS  23 

conversing  he  would  often  try  to  unravel  the  inconsistencies 
in  his  nature — "the  dualities  in  my  nature,"  as  he  described 
them  in  letters — and  he  would,  I  think,  speak  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  deficiencies  in  order  to  challenge  a  dis- 
cussion of  them. 

Watts  was  a  Celt — his  genius  was  Celtic,  his  instinctive, 
unconscious  genius; — but  with  his  conscious  brain  and  eye  he 
worshipped  Pheidias.  Ruskin  once  said  Watts  was  a  great 
artist  ruined  by  studying  the  Greeks.  Watts,  however, 
studied  the  Greeks  not  merely  from  the  outside,  not  only 
because  Greek  Art  holds  the  highest  place  among  the  world's 
art  treasures,  but  because  through  his  Celtic  blood  also  ran 
a  vein  in  sympathy  with  the  beauty  in  nature  we  find 
accentuated  in  the  work  of  the  Pheidian  school.  Among 
the  first  lessons  Watts  gave  me  were  those  on  the  specially 
noble  character  of  form  in  the  Theseus,  of  which  he  had  a 
cast,  and  in  the  large  outline  drawings  on  brown  paper  he 
had  made  from  a  famous  model, ^  of  which  he  gave  me 
photographs.  These  are  grand  drawings,  inspired  by  great 
enthusiasm  for  the  beauty  of  the  original.  He  maintained 
that  the  form  in  this  model  was  even  finer  than  that  in  the 
work  of  Pheidias,  having  "more  length  of  limb,"  a  propor- 
tion in  human  structure  which  Watts  admired  enormously. 
Though  he  recognised  Ruskin's  fine  sense  of  beauty  in 
nature,  he  was  constantly  drawing  my  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  beauty  in  the  structure  of  the  human  form  was  a 
dead  letter  to  Ruskin.^  Watts  gave  me  a  packet  of  letters 
he  had  received  from  Ruskin  before  the  time  when  his  allegi- 
ance was  absorbed  by  the  pre-Raphaelites.      In  these  letters 

*  The  figure  which  had  inspired  his  grand  "  Daphne  "  and  other  works. 

2  I  remember  Ruskin  saying  facetiously  while  he  was  giving  me  a  lesson  : 
"  I  not  only  can't  draw  anything  moving,  but  anything  that  can  move,  for  it  fusses 
me  to  think  that  it  may  begin  to  do  it  !"  He  was  forgetting  how  beautifully  he 
could  draw  clouds. 


24         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

he  tries  to  induce  Watts  to  study  botany  instead  of  Pheidias.^ 
The  letters  at  this  time  express  great  interest  and  unbiassed 
admiration  of  his  pictures.  In  one  very  characteristic  note 
Ruskin  writes:  "I  was  thinking,  after  I  left  you  yesterday, 
that  you  were  mistaken  in  the  botany  of  one  of  your  pictures. 
Forget-me-nots  do  not  grow  on  graves  :  anywhere  but  on  a 
grave.  Neither  do  they  grow  among  thorns,  but  by  sweet, 
quiet  streams,  and  in  fair  pastures  (Psalm  xxiii.  2-3). — Ever 
affectionately  yours,  J.  Ruskin."  In  another,  "  Study  botany 
with  all  your  might  and  main.^  A  letter  written  in  pencil 
on  a  rough  piece  of  paper  is  very  characteristic .  "  Dear 
Watts, — Can  you  dine  with  us  on  Wednesday  at  six — day 
after  to-morrow,  at  Denmark  Hill?  I  haven't  been  able  to 
come  to  see  you  before.  I  don't  understand  the  new  picture, 
but  it  is  glorious,  and  Satan  has  his  cheek-bone  all  right. — 
Ever  yours,  J.  Ruskin."  The  picture  referred  to  was  en- 
titled, "  Satan  walketh  to  and  fro  on  the  Earth  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour."  Watts  told  me  later  Ruskin  avowed  to 
him  that  he  had  ceased  to  feel  that  these  pictures  appealed 
to  him.  Watts  could  not  at  that  time  acquire  an  enthusiasm 
for  botany  ;  flowers,  he  would  tell  me,  had  not  the  same 
attraction  for  him  as  had  leaves  and  foliage.  Their  form, 
as  a  rule,  seemed  too  self-contained  and  small  in  character 
to  inspire  him  with  desire  to  paint  them. 

As  he  described  his  early  life  to  me,  it  is  evident  that 
from  the  first  his  modesty  prevented  his  acknowledging,  even 
to  himself,  that  he  had  any  special  gifts.  This  diffidence, 
combined  with  his  great  power  of  enthusiasm  for  other  than 


*  They  are  addressed  to  the  studio  Watts  first  occupied  after  his  return  from 
Italy  (30  Charles  Street,  Berkeley  Square),  which  became  later  the  Cosmopolitan 
Club.  On  the  walls  of  this  studio  he  painted  scenes  from  Boccaccio's  "  Decameron," 
about  which  Lord  Houghton  made  his  bon  mot:  "You  have  heard  of  Watts' 
Hymns,  now  come  and  see  Watts'  Hers/" 


MISS  MARY  KIRKPATRICK  BRUNTON 
From  the  Painting  by  G.  F.  "Watts 


GENIUS  25 

his  own  work,  retarded,  perhaps,  the  full  development  of  his 
individuality  as  an  artist  till  his  return  from  Italy  in  1847, 
when  he  was  thirty  years  of  age.  Before  leaving  England, 
in  1843,  his  paintings  were  strangely  unlike  his  matured 
work.^  He  recounted  to  me  the  story  of  the  first  com- 
mission he  received  for  a  portrait.  A  friend  had  recom- 
mended him  to  Mr.  lonides  as  a  young  artist  who  would 
be  able  to  copy  well  a  portrait  of  which  Mr.  lonides  desired 
a  replica,  and  he  was  given  the  commission.  When  it  was 
finished  and  taken  to  the  owner,  the  copy  was  considered  so 
far  superior  to  the  original  that  Mr.  lonides  forthwith  gave 
Watts  a  commission  to  paint  the  portraits  of  several  members 
of  his  family.^  The  portrait  of  Miss  Mary  Kirkpatrick 
Brunton,^  in  my  possession,  is  signed  and  dated  1842.  It 
was  brought  by  its  owner  to  him  in  1879  and  offered  for 
sale,  and  we  bought  it.  This  picture  shows  that  Watts  had 
made  a  distinct  step  forward  towards  "  finding  himself," 
especially  in  the  manner  in  which  the  structure  of  the 
forehead  and  the  orbits  of  the  eyes  were  understood  and 
painted — likewise  in  the  refined  dignity  of  the  pose  of  the 
gentlewoman  of  those  days,  but  it  is  small  and  "tight"  in 
character  compared  to  the  work  Watts  executed  while  in 
Italy  and  ever  after. 

He  talked  to  me  often   of  his  stay  in   Italy  while  the 

^  In  the  exhibition  of  Watts'  paintings,  lent  by  himself,  which  took  place 
in  Leighton  House  two  years  ago,  examples  were  chosen  with  a  view  of  show- 
ing the  history  of  the  artist's  working  life  between  the  years  1836  and  1902. 
The  earliest  specimens  of  his  paintings  recalled  curiously  the  work  of  George 
Morland. 

^  The  "Aurora,"  dated  1842,  is  a  picture  which  has  qualities  of  beauty  in 
the  work  which  rival  the  later  work,  "Life's  Illusions."  It  is  the  first  picture 
which  indicates  the  influence  of  Pheidias  in  the  treatment  of  drapery.  "The 
Wounded  Heron,"  painted  still  earlier,  is  in  quite  another  style,  but  most  finished 
and  delicate  in  its  workmanship. 

^  See  illustration. 


26         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

guest  of  Lord  and  Lady  Holland.^  He  told  me  that  his 
long  visit  to  them  of  four  years  came  about  in  this  wise. 
He  had  been  given  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Lord  Holland, 
then  our  Minister  at  Florence,  but  being  absorbed  in  the 
wonders  of  art  in  the  beautiful  city,  he  had  not  thought  of 
it  till  the  day  before  he  intended  leaving  Florence.  An 
acquaintance  told  him  that  the  person  who  gave  the  letter 
might  think  it  ungrateful  if  he  did  not  use  it,  so  Watts  left  it 
with  his  card  at  the  Legation.  Lord  Holland  asked  him  to 
dinner,  and  this  resulted  in  his  remaining  as  Lord  Holland's 
guest  for  four  years.  He  became  as  one  of  the  family  ; 
nevertheless,  he  described  to  me  how  his  two  chief  objects 
during  that  time  had  been  to  continue  his  serious  studies 
with  unabated  zeal,  and  at  the  same  time  to  prove  his 
gratitude  to  his  host  and  hostess  by  in  no  slightest  way 
presuming  on  their  kindness.  There  was  in  Watts  a  per- 
sonal refinement  and  a  very  scrupulous  sensitiveness 
which  put  him  easily  on  a  friendly  footing  with  those  of 
gentle  breeding.  He  would  say  he  felt  at  home  and  com- 
fortable with  the  aristocratic   and   with  the  peasant  classes, 

^  Lord  Holland  was  related  to  my  husband — his  grandfather,  the  fifth  Viscount 
Harrington,  having  been  first  cousin  to  the  celebrated  Lady  Holland.  My  father- 
in-law  and  others  of  his  family  described  to  us  many  interesting  matters  concern- 
ing Holland  House  in  the  old  days,  and  especially  with  regard  to  their  cousin, 
Lady  Holland.  Curiously  enough  my  husband's  maternal  grandfather.  Lord 
Chichester,  was  one  of  the  famous  party  of  whom  Lady  Holland  (then  Lady 
Webster)  and  the  beautiful  Duchess  of  Devonshire  were  the  other  members, 
when  the  tour  to  Italy  was  made,  Lady  Webster  writing  the  Diary,  and  "Tom 
Pelham  "  (afterwards  Lord  Chichester)  painting  the  scenes  of  travel  in  water- 
colour.  These  sketches  are  now  in  Holland  House,  with  the  exception  of  two 
which  were  given  to  my  mother-in-law.  Lady  Catherine  Barrington,  by  Lady 
Holland  when  she  was  very  old,  saying  at  the  time  she  gave  them  that  she  had 
always  considered  "Tom  Pelham  had  been  the  angel  of  her  life."  His  advice, 
however,  as  to  conduct,  she  did  not  follow!  Lord  Holland  took  Watts  once  to 
dine  with  his  mother  at  Holland  House,  but  from  his  description  it  must  have 
been  a  very  uncomfortable  evening.  Evidently  neither  did  Lady  Holland  take 
to  Watts  nor  Watts  to  Lady  Holland. 


GENIUS  27 

but  with  the  self-asserting  and  prosperous  middle  class  he 
felt  out  in  the  cold.  Often  would  he  deplore  to  me  that 
he  had  not  a  name  to  sustain.  He  would  have  enormously 
valued  the  possession  of  great  ancestors,  whose  position  he 
would  have  been  proud  to  keep  up,  and  whose  intrinsic 
superiority,  which  had  won  for  them  their  high  position  in 
the  past,  he  would  have  striven  to  emulate.  The  long 
visit  to  the  Hollands  was  the  turning  point  in  Watts'  life, 
as  regarded  the  future  social  position  he  took  in  the  world. 
He  told  me,  however,  when  he  was  nearly  sixty  years  of 
age,  that,  looking  back  on  the  past,  the  happiest  days  he 
could  remember  were  those  when,  as  a  student,  he  was 
leading  the  simplest  of  lives  and  working  hard  in  London, 
going  often  in  the  evenings  to  Clapham,  where  he  joined 
a  class  for  choral  singing,  music  being  ever  to  him  a  source 
of  the  greatest  delight.  My  own  experience  of  Watts 
certainly  leads  me  to  believe  that  it  was  in  an  atmosphere 
of  great  simplicity,  innocence,  and  incessant  industry  that 
he  felt  happiest  and  his  best  self,  though  one  side  of  his 
nature,  not  the  highest,  beguiled  him  at  times  on  to  other 
lines.  Much  contact  with  people  was  a  trial  to  him.  It 
excited  a  nervous  uncertainty  and  an  unreasonable  diffi- 
dence. He  had  not  acquired  that  ease  through  early  habits 
and  circumstances  in  general  society  which  would  have 
made  him  feel  quite  comfortable  in  it ;  he  felt  conscious  of 
having  to  play  a  part,  and  this  necessitated  an  effort  which 
he  knew  well  was  wasted  energy,  and  led  him  often  into 
grooves  not  in  accordance  with  his  high  aims  and  desire 
for  the  best  and  noblest.  "  I  should  like  to  go  into  a  mon- 
astery," are  the  words  that  end  one  letter  in  which  he 
deplores  the  difficulties  consequent  on  his  nervous  condi- 
tions. He  described  to  me  how  his  first  fit  of  deafness 
came  on,  when   he  and   Sir    Charles    Newton    travelled   to 


28         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Greece  together.  They  went  via  Constantinople,  in  order 
to  procure  a  firman  to  enable  them  to  make  certain  exca- 
vations in  Greece.  Lord  Lyons  was  at  that  time  our 
ambassador  at  the  Porte,  and  Watts  and  Sir  Charles  dined 
one  evening  at  the  Embassy.  It  was  a  large  dinner  party, 
and  what  with  the  lights,  the  confusion  of  sounds,  and  the 
varied  odours  of  dishes,  he  felt  in  a  maze,  and  then,  he  said, 
for  half-an-hour  became  stone  deaf.  Throughout  his  life 
the  worst  fits  of  deafness  were  always  caused  by  nervous 
strain  or  agitation.^ 

Owing,  however,  to  the  considerate  kindness  of  his  host 
and  hostess,  Watts,  while  staying  with  Lord  and  Lady 
Holland,  felt  that  the  advantages  far  exceeded  the  incon- 
gruities which  arose  from  living  in  their  society.  He  met 
those  whose  work  was  linked  with  the  important  interests 
of  the  world.  He  felt  an  echo  in  his  own  nature  to  those 
larger  views,  those  wide,  comprehensive  aspects  of  life  which 
are  developed  by  important  responsibilities,  living  the  while 
in  that  gracious  Italy  whose  buildings,  paintings,  sculptures 
all  still  are  evidences  of  the  fact  her  written  history  records 
— namely,  that  the  culture  of  beauty  in  olden  days  held  a 
place  in  the  governing  of  the  country  and  in  grave  matters 
of  State ;  that  the  influence  of  the  Arts  was  ever  present  to 
lend  a  grace  to  the  action  of  all  classes.  His  own  aims 
were  encouraged  and  strengthened,  and  his  ambition  kindled, 
to  place  the  art  of  his  country  on  the  same  level  which  was 
claimed  for  her  in  the  truly  greatest  civilisations.  Probably 
no  soil  could  have  been  more  stimulating  to  the  growth  of 

'  When  Mr.  Barrington  and  I  went  with  him  to  Oxford,  when  he  took  his 
honorary  degree,  though  he  went  through  the  ceremony  apparently  with  but 
Httle  discomfort,  he  could  not  face  the  luncheon  given  after  the  function  to 
those  and  their  friends  taking  part  in  it,  and  left  us,  to  wander  alone  in  the 
meadows  and  to  eat  a  packet  of  sandwiches  with  which  he  had  provided  himself, 
rejoining  us  only  at  the  railway  station. 


GENIUS  29 

one  side  of  Watts'  genius  than  that  in  which  it  was  planted 
during  the  four  years  when  he  was  with  the  Hollands. 

Watts  often  spoke  with  regret  of  the  little  encourage- 
ment which  the  English  school  of  painting  gave  to  the 
higher  lines  of  thought  in  art  in  the  days  when  he  was  a 
lad,  or  to  any  originality  in  the  treatment  of  a  subject.  His 
temperament  being  one  which  made  it  difficult  for  him  to 
be  self-assertive  in  matters  of  feeling,  he  felt  he  had  to 
climb  to  his  right  place  by  sheer  industry  and  consistency 
of  aim,  proving  by  his  own  work  the  worth  of  his  principles. 
But  in  the  great  art  of  Italy  he  found  sympathy  and  better 
teachers  than  any  he  had  had.  Here  his  own  imagination 
was  awakened  and  his  artistic  instincts  were  set  loose  and 
unharnessed  from  the  traces  which  had  confined  them.  The 
grand  style  which  always  made  a  strong  appeal  to  Watts' 
sense  of  nobility  was  no  uninspired  theory  in  the  great 
works  of  Ghirlandaio,  Massaccio,  and  Orgagna,  but  the 
natural  outcome  of  instinctive  preference  for  what  was 
noblest  in  nature.  Italian  Art  did  for  Watts  what  the 
Italian  inheritance  in  Rossetti's  nature  did  for  the  pre- 
Raphaelite  school  a  little  later.  It  awoke  the  fervour,  the 
feeling  for  grace  and  distinction  latent  in  Watts'  nature, 
and  gave  him  the  courage  to  go  and  do  likewise — not  the 
same  by  copying  the  great  masters'  works — but  by  carry- 
ing out  his  own  work  on  the  same  lines  as  theirs.  Among 
the  early  Italians,  Orgagna  was  the  master  he  spoke  of 
with  most  enthusiasm,  and  it  was  clearly  Orgagna's  genius  ^ 

1  Especially  as  shown  in  the  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the  Campo  Santo  at 
Pisa.  "  The  Triumph  of  Death "  left  an  indelible  impression  on  Watts'  mind. 
Far  from  ever  wishing,  however,  to  create  the  terrorising  effect  which  Andrea 
Orgagna's  depictions  might  inspire  in  many.  Watts  desired  that  his  pictorial 
rendering  of  the  inevitable  end  of  all  human  existence  should  carry  with  it  only 
the  suggestion  of  solemnity  and  mystery — the  carrying  out  of  the  laws  of  nature 
by  an  all-powerful  will,  to  which  men  should  resign  themselves  without  fear, 
and  with  the  trust  of  children  who  accept  with  obedience  their  father's  control. 


30         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

which  stamped  itself  most  deeply  on  Watts'  imagination, 
though  it  was  Titian's  actual  painting  which  inspired  his 
greatest  admiration.  He  told  me  he  was  always  seeing 
"  Titian  in  nature."  One  evening  as  we  were  standing  on 
the  lawn  in  his  garden  at  Little  Holland  House,  and  the 
warm  light  of  late  afternoon  was  weaving  threads  of  glow- 
ing gold  through  the  branches  of  a  group  of  thorn  trees,  I 
remember  Watts  exclaiming,  "There,  is  that  not  Titian .'*" 

The  paintings  done  in  Italy,  and  during  the  first  years 
after  his  return,  evinced  Watts'  natural  love  of  brilliant 
colour  and  his  exceptional  power  of  drawing,  but  hardly  his 
own  nature  and  temperament.  He  had  yet  to  "find  him- 
self" in  his  work.  His  power  of  drawing  was  not  merely 
that  of  the  draughtsman  who  has  the  natural  gift  of  almost 
unconsciously  taking  in  the  shape  of  an  object  and  render- 
ing it  on  a  flat  surface,  nor  merely  the  sculptor's  eye  who 
discerns  different  planes  in  form  so  as  to  reproduce  it  in 
the  round.  Watts,  besides  possessing  these  gifts,  realised 
the  ingredient  which  gives  to  line  and  form  a  sense  of  size, 
dignity,  and  noble  beauty.  This  drew  him  with  such  sym- 
pathy to  the  art  of  Pheidias.  While  staying  with  the 
Hollands  he  drew  and  painted  many  portraits  of  their 
friends.  Even  in  those  where  the  work  in  pencil  was 
generally  small  and  delicate,  a  sense  of  style  and  size  is  to 
be  traced.  But  neither  the  paintings  nor  the  drawings,  nor 
the  work  he  sent  home  for  competition  for  the  prizes 
offered  by  the  Royal  Commission,  showed  the  full  genius 
of  his  own  individuality.  His  nature  had  hitherto  been  too 
much  overshadowed  by  the  influence  of  people  and  of  great 
art.  He  told  me  that  though  Lord  Holland  wished  him  to 
prolong  his  visit  and  live  with  them  when  they  returned  to 
England  as  he  had  done  in  Florence,  he  felt  it  would  not 
be  wise  for  him  to  do  so.     The  aims  and  serious  intentions 


GENERAL   SIR   FREDERICK  ADAM 
From  Drawing  in  Chalks  by  G*  F.  Watts 


eJtfiW  .H  .0  yd  gj^lfiHD  ni  aniweiG  moiH 


GENIUS  31 

he  wished  to  carry  out  in  his  work  necessitated  the  inde- 
pendence and  the  solitude  which  he  could  only  fully  com- 
mand if  he  lived  alone. 

Between  the  time  when  he  commenced  to  work  in  the 
studio  at  No.  10  Charles  Street,  Berkeley  Square,  in  1848, 
and  the  time  of  his  settling  in  the  new  Little  Holland 
House  studios  when  we  became  his  intimate  friends  in 
1876,  the  pictures  were  painted  which,  if  considered  from 
the  acknowledged  standard  in  art,  are,  I  think,  the  finest 
work  as  technical  painting  Watts  ever  produced  ;  for  in- 
stance, such  pictures  as  the  portrait  of  the  model  which 
he  called  "  Bianca,"  the  exquisite  painting  on  panel  called 
"Choosing,"  and  "Life's  Illusions."  These  pictures,  in  the 
qualities  of  completeness,  perfection  in  the  actual  manipula- 
tion of  the  brush,  and  lovely,  pure,  unlaboured  colour,  would, 
I  believe,  hold  their  own  in  the  Brera,  in  the  Tribune,  or 
any  other  of  the  treasure  mines  of  the  greatest  paintings  in 
Europe.  Besides  this  class  of  work,  Watts  had  painted 
many  decorative  works  in  a  larger,  freer  style,  some  on 
canvass  and  some  on  the  walls  of  his  studio  in  Charles 
Street,  others  in  Little  Holland  House.^  He  was  anxious 
to  revive,  if  possible,  the  decoration  on  walls  by  figures,  in 
order  to  accustom  the  eye  of  the  modern  world  to  the 
aspect  of  the  human  form  nobly  treated  and  artistically 
clothed.  He  thought  that  if  original  work  on  a  high  level 
was  not  forthcoming,  the  idea  might  be  carried  out  by 
enlarged  copies  from  first-rate  designs,  distinct  outlines 
being  painted  on  the  walls  of  rooms  and  filled  in  by  flat 
colour.  To  exemplify  this,  he  enlarged  many  of  the  illus- 
trations of  Dante's  Inferno  and  Paradiso  by  Flaxman,  and 

^  These  are  now  on  the  walls  of  the  music-room  in  Melbury  House.  Also  in 
my  studio  and  in  other  rooms  are  paintings,  copies  of  Flaxman's  designs,  which 
came  off  the  walls  of  the  old  house. 


32         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

painted  them  on  the  walls  of  the  old  Little  Holland  House. 
Some  of  his  finest  portraits  were  also  painted  during  these 
years.  His  own,  which  belonged  to  Sir  William  Bowman  ; 
also  the  portrait  of  the  great  oculist  himself,  Mr.  Russell 
Gurney,  Calderon,  the  artist,  and  several  others,  which 
as  simple  portraits  and  specimens  of  complete  workmanship, 
are  among  the  best  which  in  Watts'  own  opinion  he  ever 
painted.^  But  these  works,  though  evincing  the  highest 
qualities  in  drawing,  composition,  and  fine  restrained  colour, 
do  not  yet  touch  the  essence  of  Watts'  genius.  "Life's 
Illusions,"  "Time  and  Oblivion,"  "Satan  goeth  to  and  fro 
seeking  whom  he  may  devour,"  "The  Good  Samaritan," 
and  other  Scripture  subjects,  likewise  a  group  of  singu- 
larly interesting  tragic  subjects,  full  of  pathos,  and  showing 
a  very  human  side  of  Watts'  character,  were  among  the 
first  pictures  he  painted  which  indicated  a  moral  or  symbolic 
tendency  in  his  art.  From  having  seen  very  opposite 
aspects  of  life,  the  contrast  in  the  lot  of  different  human 
beings  was  forcibly  realised  by  him.  Though  his  natural 
preference  for  the  refinements  of  life  resulted  in  his  finding 
himself  surrounded  by  these  as  soon  as  he  could  command 
his  own  way  of  living,  he  was  nevertheless  haunted  by  the 
tragedy  of  poverty  and  need.  His  disapproval  of  extrava- 
gance rose  at  times  to  passionate  resentment  when  condi- 
tions of  sad  distress  were  realised  and  often  exaggerated 
in  his  mind.  The  outcome  of  these  feelings  is  to  be  seen 
in  his  pictures — "Found  Drowned,"  "  Under  a  Dry  Arch- 
way," "  The  Song  of  the  Shirt,"  and  the  "  Irish  Peasants 
during  the  Famine."  Pathos  and  dramatic  power  in  paint- 
ing could  hardly  go  further.      Still,  it  is  not  even  in  these 

^  It  was  when  I  was  collecting  for  him  the  scattered  works  for  his  exhibition 
in  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  in  1882,  that  I  remember  most  clearly  his  giving  me  his 
views  as  to  the  comparative  artistic  value  of  his  pictures. 


G.  R  WATTS 

From  a  Photo  taken  in  1854 


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GENIUS  33 

pictures,  though  they  give  one  very  real  true  note  of  Watts' 
own  being,  that  we  reach,  I  think,  the  inborn  power  of  the 
great  Celtic  artist,  which  echoes  no  school,  no  master,  no 
genius  but  his  own.  And  yet,  though  it  may  sound  some- 
what contradictory,  he  was  most  himself  as  an  artist  when 
he  fell  under  the  influence  most  strongly  of  another  genius, 
or  of  another  personality.  It  was  then  he  became  quite 
non-theoretic  and  quite  spontaneous.  He  possessed  the 
strongest  power  of  sympathy,  and  would  pride  himself  on 
the  fact  that  nearly  all  his  sitters  became  his  friends.  In- 
deed, he  said  that  if  he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  his  sitter 
he  felt  he  could  not  get  on.  That  was  the  case  when  he 
painted  Carlyle's  portrait.  Watts  described  him  as  not  even 
taking  the  trouble  to  hide  that  a  sitting  was  a  dreadful  bore 
to  him,  and  he  was  constantly  asking  when  it  would  be  over. 
Sympathy  with  Watts  went  further  than  the  feeling  of  which 
he  was  conscious,  his  perceptions  went  into  the  unrecognised 
crevices  of  the  psychic  realm  :  that  realm  in  which  the  Celtic 
and  Slav  genius  revel.  I  should  cite  as  those  pictures  in 
which  I  feel  the  deepest  and  innermost  nature  of  Watts' 
genius  was  recorded  as  being — "Watchman,  what  of  the 
Night?"'  "Ophelia,"  "  Brynhildr,"  "Magdalen,"  the  four 
small  pictures  of  the  Riders  on  the  White,  the  Black,  the 
Red,  and  the  Pale  Horses  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  "  Sic 
Transit,"  the  three  small  sketches  of  the  "  Eves,"  "  Hope  " 
(especially  as  it  was  first  sketched  in),  the  "Joachim,"  the 
small  picture  of  "The  Court  of  Death,"  "The  Dove  that 
returned  in  the  Evening,"  "  Paolo  and  Francesca,"  "  Hay- 
stacks," "The  Sea  Horses,"  "Choosing,"  "The  Island  of 
Cos,"   "Cain,"   "Jonah,"    "Evolution,"   "Love  steering  the 

^  There  are  two  pictures  of  this  subject.  A  clever  artist  friend  made  an 
excellent  replica,  on  which  Watts  also  worked  ;  but  the  one  to  which  I  allude  was 
the  original  canvass  first  named  "  Joan  of  Arc." 

C 


34         REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

Barque  Humanity,"  "  Progress,"  and  "  Lilian,"  the  last 
picture  Watts  saw  on  the  walls  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
his  own  painting. 

In  his  first  impulse  when  painting  his  most  celebrated 
subjects,  "  Love  and  Death,"  "  Time,  Death,  and  Judg- 
ment," "The  Three  Eves"  ("  Newly  Created,  Tempted,  and 
Repentant"),  and  in  the  large  canvass  of  "The  Court  of 
Death,"  there  was  doubtless  the  same  vital  inner  life,  but 
the  completed  works  to  me  lack  that  peremptory  rush  which 
stamps  others  of  his  creations  with  a  convincing  eloquence. 
They  may  have  had  it,  but  it  is  lost.  Watts'  genius  was 
ever  battling  with  his  conscientiousness.  Watching  daily 
these  pictures  when  they  were  being  worked  at,  how  many 
inspired  passages  have  I  not  seen  painted  over  and  obliter- 
ated for  ever  by  the  conscientious  labour  of  uninspired 
hours !  A  great  theme,  needless  to  say,  never  alone  made 
a  work  of  art  great.  The  painter's  business  is  first  and  fore- 
most to  paint,  and  no  one  was  ever  more  conscious  of  this 
truism  than  was  Watts.  It  is  the  vibrating  quality  in  the 
actual  laying  on  of  the  pigment  which,  equally  with  the 
imaginative  conception  and  the  inspired  design,  secures  to 
the  greatest  art  the  influence  it  commands.  The  touches 
themselves  must  be  inspired  creations,  no  less  than  the 
conceived  idea  and  design.  They  are  the  outward,  hardly 
conscious  reflections  of  some  inward  vision,  some  deep 
emotion  ; — some  influence  of  beauty  that  has  crept  into  the 
touch,  into  the  very  pigment  itself;  it  is  these  which  produce 
the  real  triumphs  in  art. 

Watts  at  his  best  was  great  as  an  actual  workman,  and 
knew  full  well  that  conception  and  interpretation  must  agree ; 
feeling  that,  to  a  true  artist,  right  expression  is  the  inevitable 
sequel  to  a  fine  idea — that  they  are  inseparable.  In  such 
art  as  his  happiest  genius  has  created,  we  feel  there  is  the 


GENIUS  35 

same  convincing  harmony  which  exists  in  the  best  lines  of 
great  poets  when  idea  and  word  are  created  simuhaneously. 
When  Byron  wrote  the  Hne  describing  love  as  "a  glory 
circHng  round  the  soul,"  he  did  not  wait  to  think  of  the 
best  words  in  which  to  explain  his  idea :  they  came.  And 
so  with  the  painter  of  genius — study,  knowledge,  patient  en- 
during labour  may  form  the  solid  foundations,  but  when  the 
moment  of  expression  comes,  the  touch  must  be  inevitable. 
When  Watts'  genius  emancipated  itself  from  all  traditions, 
when  the  effects  of  early  evangelical  stiffness  of  conscience 
vanished,  and, — having  emerged  from  the  overpowering  in- 
fluence of  the  great  masters  of  the  past, — his  genius  faced 
nature  alone,  that  nature  generally  taking  the  form  of  human 
beings  with  whom  he  felt  an  intimate  and  spontaneous 
sympathy,  we  get  his  highest  eloquence  in  art :  art  which 
is  above  all  things  itself — not  Pheidias  nor  Orgagna  nor 
Titian — but  Watts.  Such  work  requires  no  enhancing  by 
favourable  comparison  with  standard  works  in  the  Tribune 
or  in  the  Brera,  nor  anywhere  else — it  is  itself. 

Many  of  us  are  apt  to  estimate  more  highly  the  things 
we  do  with  difficulty  than  those  things  that  cost  us  no  effort, 
though  intrinsically  they  are  worth  more.  This  was  often 
the  case  with  Watts.  His  genius  being  so  instinctive  that 
he  hardly  even  recognised  its  existence,  he  seemed  to  set 
less  value  on  it  than  on  those  ambitious  efforts  which  caused 
him  much  labour,  and  in  the  creation  of  which  he  used 
conscious  thought.  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  realised  whence 
came  the  inspiration  which  resulted  in  his  most  glorious 
visions  on  canvass.  In  "Watchman,  what  of  the  Night?" 
(first  named  "Joan  of  Arc")  it  was  not  Isaiah,  but  the 
dramatic  genius  of  his  sitter  influencing  the  artist's  imagi- 
nation in  a  psychic  manner,  which  made  the  work  what  it 
is,  a  quite  inspired  creation.     Again  in  the  "Ophelia"  as  I 


^6         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.   F.   WATTS 

first  saw  it,  before  Watts  retouched  it/  it  was  not  the 
influence  of  Shakespeare,  but  his  sitter's  creation  of  the 
part  that  lent  the  picture  its  exquisitely  tender  pathos.  In 
the  finest  piece  of  sculpture  Watts  ever  achieved,  the  bust  of 
"Clytie,"  again  it  was  an  echo  of  the  dramatic  feeling  of  the 
same  sitter  which  gave  value  to  the  conception  and  inspired 
the  working  of  the  marble,  which  Watts  chiselled  himself. 

In  the  Joachim,  a  creation  on  the  same  high  level,  the 
value  does  not  lie  in  the  fact  of  it  being  a  good  portrait 
of  the  actual  features  of  the  great  musician  ;  in  fact  there 
are  many  of  his  friends  who  never  thought  the  likeness 
good.  It  lies  in  the  fact  that  in  the  painting  is  an  embodi- 
ment of  Joachim's  feeling  for  music.  By  some  subtle  sense 
the  painter  has  entered  into  and  seized  the  genius  of  his 
sitter,  and  has  translated  through  the  medium  of  line  and 
colour  the  essence  of  the  deep  feeling  which  inspired  the 
master's  interpretations  of  Beethoven,  Bach,  and  Brahms. 
Watts  has  immortalised  in  this  portrait  a  reflection  in  paint- 
ing of  that  unsurpassed  art,  which  has  affected  so  deeply  all 
true  music-lovers  of  our  generation.  The  brow  is  weighted 
with  a  sense  of  the  grandeur  of  great  harmonies  and  melody  ; 
the  fingers  vibrate  with  the  fervour  of  thrilling  sound.  The 
whole  canvass  is  infused  by  a  sense  of  such  music  as  Joachim 
can  produce. 

Again,  in  the  "  Brynhildr"  is  another  example  of  Watts' 
invention  being  inspired  by  sympathy  with  a  mood  in  another 

*  One  evening,  when  the  large  studio  was  Hghted  with  but  one  candle,  which 
Watts  held  and  shaded  by  his  hand  as  he  threw  the  light  on  to  the  "  Ophelia," 
which  he  had  taken  out  from  a  heap  of  old  canvasses  to  show  me,  I  saw  this  picture 
for  the  first  time.  It  struck  me  as  one  of  the  loveliest  surprises  I  have  ever  seen 
in  art.  It  haunted  me  for  days,  the  individuality  was  so  strong,  the  poetry  in  it 
so  tender.  I  suppose  Watts  thought  there  might  be  something  in  it,  or  he  would 
not  have  cared  to  show  it  ;  but  I  am  certain  he  did  not  realise  the  power  inherent 
in  the  painting.  Nothing  of  the  kind  has  ever  grieved  me  more  than  that  he  ever 
touched  the  canvass  again. 


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GENIUS  37 

nature,  the  pictorial  element  in  the  work  having  been  con- 
ceived while  sitting  over  the  fire  in  the  waning  light  of  a 
winter's  afternoon,  a  green  velvet  hat  having  suggested  the 
helmet  and  given  the  shadow  on  the  face.  A  beautiful  friend 
of  mine  kindly  gave  sittings  to  Watts  for  the  "  Hope."  I  do 
not  think  any  one  has  recognised  it  as  her  portrait ;  never- 
theless, no  ostensible  portrait  ever  gave  the  essence  of  her 
personality,  nor  the  suggestion  of  the  dainty  refined  distinc- 
tion which  emanated  from  everything  she  was  or  did,  as  does 
the  "Hope."^  Not  only  was  nature  used  to  carry  out  his 
visions,  his  thoughts,  and  feelings,  but  sympathy  with  the 
nature  of  others  inspired  the  subjects  of  the  visions,  and  so 
far  such  pictures  are  links  between  the  purely  imaginative 
works  and  the  portraits.  In  the  first  sitting  Watts  would 
often  catch  an  inspiration  from  his  sitter  which  he  afterwards 
lost.  This  was  the  case  in  the  portrait  of  Matthew  Arnold. 
Watts  desired  much  to  paint  the  poet,  and  as  we  knew  him 
well  the  matter  was  easily  arranged.  I  saw  the  portrait  at 
the  end  of  the  first  sitting.  It  was  splendid  ;  but  Watts 
wanted  to  get  more  into  it,  and  seemed  unconscious  of  the 
fact  that  he  had  already  caught  something  which  could  not 
be  improved  upon.  He  worked  several  days  on  it,  the  ulti- 
mate result  being  that  the  portrait  was  considered  a  failure 
by  many  of  Matthew  Arnold's  relatives  and  friends.  Watts 
was  often  overburdened  by  anxiety  about  his  work,  a  feeling 
arising  chiefly  from  a  want  of  vitality  and  a  want  of  health. 
Often  would  one  day's  work,  achieved  when  he  felt  vigorous, 
be  weakened  by  his  labouring  on  it  when  he  felt  everything 
was  an  effort.^    He  had  no  time  to  get  anxious  over  the  superb 

^  I  made  a  small  copy  of  the  picture  in  water-colour  and  chalk,  and  while 
working  from  it  I  realised  this  peculiar  atmosphere  most  fully. 

2  He  was  doubly  anxious  when  he  was  ostensibly  painting  for  money.  In 
March  1892  he  wrote  that  his  instincts  were  outraged  by  asking  for  money  for 


^S         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

portrait  he  painted  of  Walter  Crane,  as  his  sitter  was  starting 
for  America  a  few  days  after  the  first  sitting.  Here,  as  in 
the  Joachim,  the  genius  in  his  subject  influenced  Watts,  and 
by  general  consent  this  is  one  of  his  finest  paintings.  He 
himself,  however,  did  not  realise  this.  "  I  am  making  a  study 
of  Walter  Crane,"  he  writes,  "and  am  in  a  mess  over  it." 
In  May  1892  he  writes  that  its  success  surprises  him.  It  is 
due,  he  really  believes,  to  what  he  regards  as  its  fault,  a 
certain  hardness  of  surface,  the  consequence  of  an  ill-prepared 
canvass.  He  adds,  "  So  much  for  real  appreciation  of  art  and 
its  intention  in  these  days."  I  believe  that  the  superlative 
excellence  in  Walter  Crane's  portrait  was  due  to  Watts  not 
having  had  time  to  spoil  the  first  inspired  impression. 

Among  the  most  unspoilt  and  inspired  of  Watts'  works 
are  a  few  in  which  no  direct  personal  influence  can  be  traced, 
notably  the  "  Sic  Transit."  In  this  the  noble  texture  in  the 
painting,  the  impressive,  tragic  solemnity  of  the  feeling  in 
the  design — unalleviated  gloom  though  it  be — raises  it  to 
a  very  high,  if  not  the  highest  place,  among  his  works. 
"The  Minotaur"  and  the  "Jonah"  were  the  result  of  in- 
tense indignation  in  Watts'  mind  against  certain  evils.  A 
painful  subject  had  filled  one  of  the  evening  papers.  It  was 
a  subject  we  could  not  discuss,  but  he  just  alluded  to  it  one 
evening  in  the  most  indignant  terms.  Next  morning,  about 
nine  o'clock,  I  received  a  little  note  asking  me  to  come  in  to 
look  at  something.  It  was  "The  Minotaur,"  virtually  as  we 
see  it  now,  but  rather  more  vigorous,  as  the  touches  he  added 

what  might  not  be  money's  worth  !  He  had  absolutely  determined  against  taking 
portrait  commissions,  not  because  he  was  independent  of  money  considerations, 
but  because  at  his  time  of  life  (he  was  then  75)  he  could  not  be  at  all  certain  of 
anything  beyond  the  desire  to  do  a  good  thing.  If  he  painted  a  picture  which  was 
desired  to  be  bought  when  it  was  finished,  he  should  be  very  happy  indeed  to  sell, 
as  the  purchaser  could  be  able  to  judge  whether  or  not  the  thing  was  worth  the 
money. 


GENIUS  39 

after  rather  lessened  than  increased  the  force  of  the  concep- 
tion. He  had  painted  it  in  three  hours,  from  five  to  eight 
o'clock  that  morning.  I  remember  feeling  the  intensest 
regret,  when  I  saw  what  Watts  had  created  in  three  hours, 
that  his  normal  state  of  vitality  made  such  power  compara- 
tively rarely  present.  Some  feeling  of  great  indignation, 
some  intense  enthusiasm,  or  other  excitement  produced  from 
the  mesmeric  influence  attached  to  the  presence  of  another 
personality,  were  needed  to  stir  the  psychic  forces  of  his 
Celtic  nature  from  its  state  of  normal  lethargic  melancholy. 
Conscience,  a  strong  will,  and  a  never-flagging  ambition 
were  the  helpmates  to  his  industry,  and  overcame  all  tend- 
ency to  indolence  ;  but  other  influences  were  needed  before 
the  depths  of  his  genius  were  stirred. 

The  sensitiveness  of  the  Celtic  nature  is  often  veiled, 
its  emotional  side  being  kept  smothered  under  a  curious  kind 
of  patient  melancholy  and  secretiveness.  It  is  rarely  fully 
awakened  except  when  a  fire,  seemingly  outside  its  own  con- 
sciousness, is  lighted,  and  then  with  fervour  it  expresses 
itself.  By  nature  Watts  was  secretive,^  and  many  circum- 
stances in  his  life  had  led  him  to  be  more  so  ;  but  excitement 
over  some  thrilling  interest  would  open  the  flood-gates  at 
times,  and,  as  in  his  most  real  pictures,  the  most  real  Watts 
would  evince  himself — the  Watts  all  genius,  spontaneity,  and 
interest, — provincialism  of  class,  theoretic  principles,  every- 
thing that  was  dull  and  a  matter  of  course,  thrown  to  the  winds. 
In  those  moments  he  was  indeed  an  inspiring  companion ! 

There  is  much  in  common  between  the  genius  of  the 
Slav  and  of  the  Celt.  Nietzsche  went  so  far  as  to  trace  a 
similarity  in  the  origin  of  their  languages.  I  feel  much  of 
the  finest  Slav  music,  which  arouses  such  enthusiasm  in  our 

^  In  a  letter  begging  me  to  repress  if  I  can  the  habit  in  a  mutual  friend  of 
talking  about  people,  he  writes,  "  One  never  regrets  holding  one's  tongue." 


40        REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

modern  music-loving  natures,  to  be  in  the  same  strain  as 
that  of  Watts'  genius.  Tchaikovsky's  tragic  symphony  and 
Watts'  "Sic  Transit"  touch  the  same  chord  of  profound 
impersonal  melancholy,  the  intense  and  deep  interest  of  both 
works  lying  beyond  the  circumstances  of  the  human  lot  alone, 
touching  those  vaguer  mysteries  which  float  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  earthly  conditions  of  the  soul,  recognised 
by  the  word  psychic. 

"  Man  ties  them  both,  alone, 
And  makes  them  one  ; 
With  th'  one  hand  touching  heav'n ;  with  th'  other  earth." 

But  the  other  day  I  realised  how  identical  is  one  strain 
in  the  art  of  the  Slav  and  of  the  Celt.  I  was  listening 
from  the  gallery  in  Leighton's  studio  to  a  fine  rehearsal  of 
Tchaikovsky's  splendid  trio  for  pianoforte  and  strings.  Close 
to  me  was  a  cast  of  Watts'  "  Clytie."  How  intimately  con- 
nected seemed  the  feeling  of  the  two  great  works.  As  the 
sounds  rose  and  I  looked  intently  at  the  "  Clytie,"  so  full  of 
yearning,  passionate,  lingering  unrest,  each  creation  seemed 
to  add  something  of  meaning  to  the  other.  Two  sister  spirits 
speaking  in  music  and  sculpture  :  the  same  strain  of  mysti- 
cism and  melancholy,  alike  in  composer  and  sculptor,  uniting 
in  creating  one  and  the  same  deep  impression. 

On  the  same  level  to  the  eye  was  also  the  Pheidian  frieze, 
which  runs  as  a  cornice  along  the  studio  wall.  What  com- 
plications in  the  sensibilities  of  the  human  race  have  the 
growing  years  of  the  world  developed  since  that  frieze  of 
the  Parthenon  was  sculptured,  and  Tchaikovsky's  trio  and 
Watts'  "Clytie"  were  invented!  How  happy,  simple,  and 
unagitating  is  the  art  of  that  noble  Pheidian  procession,  so 
serene  and  composed  in  its  dignified  beauty  compared  to 
the  mystery  of  the  half-hidden  Slav  passion  surging  out  in 


GENIUS  41 

intricacies  of  musical  sound,  and  to  the  straining,  appealing 
gesture  in  the  sculpture  of  the  Celt.  A  stepping-stone  be- 
tween the  eras  which  have  produced  these  two  so  distinctly- 
different  emanations  of  genius  is  to  be  found  in  the  "  Slave  " 
of  Michael  Angelo,  a  cast  of  which  stood  far  down  in  the 
studio,  near  the  musicians.  Here  is  also  a  struggle,  an 
unrest,  a  deeper  suggestion  of  human  passion  than  in  the 
Greek  art ;  but  that  particular  wild  note,  as  of  a  spirit  eman- 
cipated from  the  shackles  of  the  explainable,  had  not  asserted 
itself  in  the  melancholy  imagination  of  the  Southern  Italian 
as  it  has  in  these  days  in  our  more  mystic  North. 

Watts  would  often  reason  out  his  subjects,  philosophise 
over  them,  preach  on  them,  taking  the  idea  as  his  text;  but 
he  was  most  right,  and  realised  deeper  the  root  of  their 
raisdn  d'etre,  I  think,  when  he  said  he  wished  them  to  ex- 
plain themselves,  as  do  great  anthems,  by  the  same  solemn 
effect  that  truly  soul-stirring,  elevating  music  produces.  He 
ever  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  the  perfect  human 
being  was  not  an  angel  ;  that,  as  long  as  we  are  in  the 
flesh,  we  must  the  more  we  are  developed  as  human  beings 
be  guided  and  inspired  partially  by  the  senses.  He  felt  his 
own  genius  stronger,  more  peremptory,  when  influenced  by 
sensuous  qualities,  by  enthusiasm  for  colour,  and  for  the  form 
which  produced  on  him,  as  on  the  Greeks,  an  aesthetic  feeling 
of  delight  beyond  the  cold,  merely  intellectual  approval,  with 
which  it  is  regarded  by  many  followers  of  the  so-called 
classic   school.^      He   often    expressed    it    as    his    ostensible 

^  I  never  realised  so  strongly  Watts'  instinctive  sensibility  for  form  as  when 
I  used  to  see  him  chiselling  the  marble  on  the  "  Clytie."  As  I  watched  his  subtle 
conception  of  the  different  planes  and  delicate  curves,  worked  in  innumerable 
facets,  which  he  said  would  produce,  he  thought,  a  better  effect  of  atmosphere  and 
a  more  palpitating  quality  of  surface  than  chiselling  the  form  with  more  direct 
touches,  and  saw  him  strike  and  guide  the  chisel,  an  echo  seemed  to  be  awakened 
in  my  own  sensibility  for  form.     The  delight  which  Watts  was  feeling  himself 


42         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

intention  to  arouse,  by  lofty  harmonies  of  beauty  in  subject, 
form,  and  colour,  an  elevating  response  from  the  higher 
spiritual  and  emotional  feeling  rather  than  from  the  intel- 
lectual or  purely  artistic  side  of  our  human  nature. 

To  analyse  the  Celtic  temperament  is  not  easy.  It  is 
secretive  and  involved  by  reason  of  its  many  intricate  sensi- 
bilities. It  becomes,  however,  strangely  interesting  to  make 
the  attempt  when  it  is  a  case  of  a  Celtic  temperament  being 
allied  with  genius.  Melancholy  and  unexplained  to  itself,  the 
ordinary  specimen  of  the  Celt  has  but  little  inner  confidence. 
The  flattering  tongue  of  the  Irish,  the  persuasive,  gentle 
manners  of  the  Somerset  and  Devonshire  Celtic  peasantry, 
are  signs  of  a  sensitiveness  which  recoils  from  criticism  or 
admonition.  Their  natures  are  guided  rather  by  instinct  and 
imagination  than  by  reason,  and  lack  the  self-centred  power 
to  hold  their  own  in  opposition  to  others.  Neither  Slav  nor 
Celt  is  a  born  ruler  of  men,  both  being  too  much  affected 
by  the  opinion  of  others  to  possess  the  power  of  leading. 
Their  own  lives  being  worked  out  more  through  these  un- 
reasoned instincts  than  by  the  restrictive  formularies  which 
educate  most  of  us,  knowledge  and  experience  do  not  come 
to  them  through  the  same  channel  of  standards  and  principles 
which  the  world  has  voted  the  right  ones.  They  are  conse- 
quently diffident  in  their  dealings  with  their  fellow-men. 

What  I  should   conceive  to  be  the  most  typical  form  of 

while  chiselling  seemed  contagious,  carrying  with  it  a  kind  of  mesmeric  influence 
I  never  felt  this  to  the  same  extent  while  watching  him  painting,  though  on  many 
of  his  greatest  pictures  I  have  seen  him  work  for  hours  ;  not,  however,  on  those 
which  have  been  completed  suddenly  and  with  most  inspiration.  He  was  either 
quite  alone  or  alone  with  his  sitter  when  these  were  achieved.  On  the  more 
laboured  canvasses,  on  account  probably  of  the  deliberate  methods  he  used,  and 
the  combined  complications  of  colour,  tone,  and  atmosphere  which  he  aimed  at, 
each  touch  of  paint  was  too  much  regulated  by  studied  intention  to  produce  the 
magnetic  effect  which  the  touch  of  his  chisel  infused  into  a  corresponding  sense  in 
oneself. 


GENIUS  43 

melancholy  Celt,  we  saw  while  in  Brittany.  We  lived  in 
an  old  chateau  for  two  summers  in  one  of  the  loneliest  parts 
on  the  northern  coast,  where  the  landscape,  with  its  long 
dark  limits  of  hill  line  rises  against  gray,  sad  skies,  making 
a  fit  framing  for  the  unwritten  tragedy,  the  mute  suffer- 
ing of  those  very  poor  people.  Records  of  past  Seignorial 
grandeur  still  exist  in  this  now  almost  forsaken  land.  Among 
the  hydrangeas  and  roses  in  our  garden  was  one  of  the  old 
tower  pigeonniers,  such  as  those  that  made  one  of  the  chief 
grievances  of  the  peasants  that  caused  the  French  Revo- 
lution. In  our  journeyings  we  came  on  mysterious,  romantic 
chateaux  of  beautiful  architecture  embedded  deep  in  forests 
of  curious  weirdly-grown  trees  ;  among  them  the  foxgloves 
shoot  up  taller  than  the  tallest  men,  while  on  the  down-like 
slopes  rising  round  our  Brittany  Greve  de  St.  Michel,  colum- 
bines grow  wild,  dangling  their  dainty  heads,  soft  blue, 
against  the  silver  seas. 

"  And  here  and  there,  lock'd  by  the  land, 
Long  inlets  of  smooth  glittering  sea 
And  many  a  stretch  of  watery  sand."  ^ 

It  is  a  land  teeming  with  Arthurian  legends.  Ours  was 
the  very  same  wild  coast  where  Isolda  landed  on  that  rough 
night  to  reach  her  dying  Tristram.  "Christ!  what  a  night! 
how  the  sleet  whips  the  pane ! "  Tristram  exclaims,  as  he 
lies  hearing  the  gusts  sweeping  that  lonely  shore,  eagerly 
listening  for  a  sound  that  would  mean  her  approach.  In 
the  entanglements  of  those  fantastic  forest  trees,  where  the 
foxgloves  grow,  it  seems  possible  that  Merlin  might  yet  be 
entranced  by  Vivien,  so  old-world  and  out-of-the-world  are 
those  secret  hidden  wood-depths.  But  all  these  associa- 
tions with   a    legendary  world    we   took   with  us   into  that 

*  "  Tristram  and  Iseult,"  Matthew  Arnold. 


44         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

remote  corner  of  the  world  ; — Matthew  Arnold,  Tennyson, 
Wagner,  Burne- Jones,  have  brought  these  romances  back 
and  made  them  live  afresh  in  our  modern  minds  ;  but  they 
are  not  in  tune  with  what  we  really  found  in  this  land  of  the 
Celts.  Pierre  Loti  flavours  his  book,  "  Pecheurs  d'Islande," 
with  the  deep  passion  and  melancholy  of  the  Celt,  in  a  lan- 
guage in  which  a  French  writer  of  genius  can  explain  them  ; 
but  the  very  fact  of  explaining  the  temperament  of  the  Celt 
in  such  telling  words,  which  carry  with  them  definite  mean- 
ing, removes  it  in  a  certain  degree  from  the  real  thing. 
The  deepest  tragedy  lies  dumb  at  the  root  of  the  nature ; 
you  catch  a  reflection  of  it  at  times  in  the  hopeless  glance 
of  the  eye  of  a  Breton  peasant,  gazing  from  out  its  large 
orbit, — a  glance  that  has  in  it  pathos  like  that  of  an  animal 
that  looks  at  you,  knowing  it  cannot  explain  itself  to  your 
human  breed,  feeling  all  the  time  a  something  you  cannot 
feel.  As  you  travel  along  the  lonely  roads  in  the  remote 
country  you  meet  peasants  who  look  at  you  like  that,  and 
the  look  haunts  you  as  if  it  had  come  from  another  world. 
And  assuredly  the  real  genius  of  the  Bretons  is  a  thing 
apart  and  separate  from  our  modern  world, — our  modern 
ways?  With  them  religion  has  stagnated  into  superstition, 
habits  and  prejudices  have  become  stereotyped  into  inevi- 
table courses,  as  unalterable  in  their  eyes  as  are  the  laws  of 
Nature  herself,  and  in  which  pagan  rites  are  still  lechoed 
as  continuing  customs.  On  the  eve  of  St.  John's  Day, 
when  driving  over  the  widespread  bare  hill-sides,  where  in 
that  lonely  world  glow-worms  still  gleam  out  from  the  banks 
along  the  roads,  you  come  on  a  few  hovels  studded  near  each 
other,  which  form  a  little  hamlet.  There  you  see  crouching 
round  bonfires  {pons  feiix)  groups  of  peasants  enacting  a  rite 
of  semi-Christian,  semi-pagan  origin — the  remnant,  partly, 
of  a  fire-worshipping  creed.     Again,  at  times,  in  the  evening 


GENIUS  45 

as  we  watched  from  the  windows  of  the  old  chateau  on  the 
wild  coast,  flickering  torches  would  flare  out  through  the 
darkness,  and  piercing  the  howling  winds  and  storm-driven 
rain,  weird  sounds  of  revelry  would  come  to  us,  the  revelry 
of  a  wake  kept  up  all  through  the  night  round  the  corpse 
laid  out  in  one  of  the  hovels  near  our  gates. 

The  idea  of  Death  was  a  very  constant  idea  with  Watts. 
It  was  not  merely  a  fact  to  his  mind,  it  was  a  stirring 
interest,  and  had  in  it  the  power  of  moving  his  most  creative 
impulses.  Over  and  above  his  Celtic  temperament  there  was 
in  his  nature  so  much  besides.  Though  doubtless  a  very 
sensitive  instrument  on  which  other  individualities  played, 
which  aroused  by  their  stimulating  influence  the  developement 
of  his  own  creative  power,  his  temperament  was  allied  to  a 
searching  intellect,  subtle  powers  of  reasoning,  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  an  early  strict  religious  training ;  above  all,  to  that 
rare  mould  in  human  nature  we  call  genius,  which  sees, 
apprehends,  and  comprehends  instinctively  a  further,  com- 
pleter point  of  vision  in  things  than  does  the  ordinary  man 
or  woman.  Genius  is  peremptory,  the  Celtic  temperament 
is  diffident,  secretive,  and  intensely  though  shyly  emotional. 
With  his  finely-pointed,  subtly-distinguishing  brain.  Watts 
discerned  every  weakness  in  himself.  He  fought  strenuously 
against  outside  influences  diverting  his  own  constancy  of 
purpose  and  determined  aims,  and  yet  he  felt  the  necessity 
of  feeding  his  genius  by  outside  influences.  Watts  might, 
and  indeed  did,  feed  much  on  the  vitality  of  others,  but  such 
vitality  was  but  added  fuel  to  a  fire  which  burnt  in  his  own 
creative  imagination,  his  own  fervent,  individual  tempera- 
ment, the  temperament  of  the  Celt.  It  was  the  something 
indefinite  which  explains  itself  but  in  part,  though  reaching 
to  the  very  heart  of  mystery  in  all  things  that  stirred  most 
deeply  his  imagination,  those  questioning  notes  reflecting  the 


46         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

pathetic  contrasts  in  life  rather  than  definite  themes  weighted 
with  solemn  Fate,  such  as  the  Greeks  commemorate  in  their 
tragedies.  The  melancholy  note  in  the  art  of  the  Slav  and 
of  the  Celt  is  left  loose  ended,  a  note  of  unexplained  sadness, 
such  a  one  as  forms  the  inner  thread  of  the  wild,  reckless 
bursts  in  Slav  music.  The  upper  surface  may  be  gay  and 
fearlessly  abandoned,  but  the  ground-work  is  a  mystery  and 
a  wailing.  It  is  the  contrast  of  sad  and  gay,  the  story  of  all 
the  world's  real  life.^  You  have  it  in  the  Hungrarian  dance 
which  begins  inside  the  inn  where  the  corpse  lies,  but  goes 
on  in  tune  with  the  dancers  and  revelry  outside.  There  is 
the  music  for  both,  interpreting  with  a  strange  tragic  power 
the  contrasts  of  life.  Again  you  have  it  in  the  wakes  in 
Brittany  and  Ireland.  Why  that  revelry  of  wild  emotion 
over  the  solemn  fact  of  Death  ?  Some  deep  spring  is 
touched,  and  the  native,  timid  reserve  of  the  race,  the 
secretive,  shy  reserve,  is  broken  through,  and  its  daemon 
frees  itself  in  a  rush  of  emotion. 

So  in  Watts'  painting.  Behind  the  sensuous  glory  of 
colour,  the  richness  of  texture  and  quality,  and  the  serenity 
of  Pheidian  form,  we  find  a  weird,  melancholy  note.  In  his 
greatest  pictures,  that  note  belongs  to  the  theme  as  well  as 
to  the  feeling.  In  the  "Sic  Transit"  we  have  the  triumph 
of  his  art.  Here  there  is  no  rift  rent  in  the  sky — nothing 
to  lift  off  the  brooding  melancholy  of  the  theme,  no  hint  to 
lead  the  thought  upwards  from  the  transitory  to  the  eternal. 
After  the  first  "  Love  and  Death "  was  painted  I  often 
pleaded  for  the  further  theme,  "  Love  Triumphant."  It 
came  at  last,  but  compared  to  "  Love  and  Death,"  "  Love 
Triumphant "  was  a  failure.     The   Love  who  was  defeated, 

^  In  1904,  a  few  months  before  his  death,  Watts  writes: — "Glad  and  sorry; 
is  not  this  an  epitome  of  Life  ?  Happy  those  with  whom  gladness  outweighs  the 
sorrow,  for  of  the  last  there  is,  I  am  afraid,  an  overbalancing  amount." 


GENIUS  47 

overpowered  by  the  stride  of  Death,  was  a  glorious,  passion- 
ate, pathetic  Love  ;  and  Death,  the  inevitable,  was  solemn 
and  grand.  The  unanswered  question,  the  mystery  of 
existence,  had  more  power  to  stimulate  the  imagination  of 
the  Celt  than  had  the  glory  and  the  joy  of  a  fixed  faith. 

Corresponding  to  Watts'  principle  as  to  the  value  of  the 
flattened  curve  of  a  line  as  suggesting  a  far  reaching  circle 
beyond  the  confines  of  any  actual  design,^  might  be  said  to 
be  those  stretches  of  his  own  imagination  which  sought  for 
subjects  for  his  art  in  conditions  which  embraced  further 
regions,  and  wider,  more  indefinite  fields  than  those  of  the 
world  we  live  in.  The  design  which  is  stamped  on  the  cover 
of  this  book  is  one  which  interested  him.  He  painted  it  on 
one  of  the  walls  of  the  old  Little  Holland  House.^  Round 
the  fiery  ball  of  the  sun  circle  the  orbits  of  the  planets.  A 
little  figure  representing  earth,  though  kept  within  her  orbit, 
gazes  upward  towards  the  firmaments  beyond — a  true  emblem 
of  the  genius  which  found  its  inspiration  in  ideas  which 
sprang  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  earth  and  her  compara- 
tively restricted  worldly  concerns. 

^  Explained  in  the  following  chapter  on  Watts'  sculpture. 
2  This  wall  painting  is  now  in  Leighton  House. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SCULPTURE 

In  early  student  days,  before  Watts  went  to  Italy,  he  had 
become  familiarised  with  the  modern  methods  of  sculpture 
while  frequenting  Behne's  studio,  where  he  drew  from  the 
antique,  casts  of  which  he  found  there.      It  was  about  this 
time,    Watts    told    me,  that   Haydon  had    declared    for    the 
Elgin  Marbles  against   the  judgment  of  Knight   the  critic. 
Much  discussion  was  going  on  with  reference  to  the  value 
of  different  phases  of  so-called  classic  art.     For  some  time 
the   fashionable  classic    art   had   been   Roman,   not   Grecian 
— hence  the  reason  probably  for  Knight's  mistake  when  he 
called  the  Elgin  Marbles  "late  debased  Roman  sculpture." 
The  principles  of  the  Pheidian  school  of  form,  and  its  treat- 
ment in  sculpture,  were  so  little  understood  by  the  fashion- 
able critic,  that,  seeing  that  these   Greek   works  in  no  way 
fitted    in    to    the   admired    art   then    in    vogue,   Knight   de- 
nounced   them    as    inferior  art.       Haydon    had    once  given 
Watts  encouragement  in  his  study  of  these  Elgin  Marbles, 
and  as   soon   as  they    were  placed  in  the  British  Museum, 
Watts  paid  frequent  visits  to  these  matchless  sculptures  from 
his  rooms  in  Charlotte  Street.       In    this    way   he   obtained 
his  best  training  in  the   understanding  of  noble  form  from 
sculpture  before  he  received  his  best  inspirations  from  the 
paintings  he  saw  while  in   Italy.       The  fact  that  keen  dis- 
cussions were  aroused  with  reference  to  the  Elgin  Marbles 

excited  Watts'  further  admiration  and  more  intent  study  of 

48 


G.  F.  WATTS*  TEACHERS 


-   ^     *- 


2^HHDAHT  'aXTAW  .H  .O 


SCULPTURE  49 

them.  But  it  was  only  after  he  returned  from  Italy  that  he 
began  actually  to  work  at  sculpture.  Whilst  there  he  had 
seen  great  things  in  sculpture  and  painting  by  the  same 
hand,  from  the  masters  Orgagna,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and 
Michael  Angelo.  He,  too,  would  aim  at  the  highest,  the 
most  comprehensive  utterances  in  art.  No  effort  or  industry 
should  be  wanting  in  the  developement  of  the  highest  faculties 
he  possessed  in  the  service  of  the  highest  art.  He  had  an 
unerring  judgment  as  to  those  things  that  were  best  to  aim 
at;  and  an  indomitable  courage  in  aiming  at  them.  The 
result  of  his  whole  long  life's  labours  is  epitomised  in  George 
Herbert's  lines  : 

"  Who  aimeth  at  the  sky, 
Shoots  higher  far  than  he  that  means  a  tree." 

In  his  sculptor's  studio  attached  to  the  new  Little  Holland 
House,  the  conditions  in  which  his  work  was  carried  on  were 
delightful  to  him.  He  told  me  that  anything  to  do  with 
building  and  construction  of  any  kind  had  a  great  fascination 
for  him.  The  "Hugh  Lupus"  and  "Vital  Energy"  were 
both  successively  mounted  on  trolleys  and  run  out  on  rails 
into  his  garden,  so  that  for  the  most  part  it  was  in  the  open 
air  that  he  worked  on  them.  Before  either  of  these  large 
equestrian  statues  was  begun,  having  modelled  the  small 
sketch  for  "  Physical  Energy  "  and  had  it  cast.  Watts  made 
a  framework  of  wood — a  section  of  a  horse — over  which 
he  nailed  large  sheets  of  brown  paper,  and  cutting  these 
to  the  shape  of  the  horse,  he  drew  lines  in  charcoal  which 
indicated  the  action  he  meant  to  express.  I  was  working 
one  morning  in  the  room  nearest  Watts'  garden  (it  was 
before  my  studio  was  built),  when  he  came  to  the  paling 
of  our  garden,  urgently  begging  me  to  come  in  for  a 
moment   at  once.     He  was  eager  to  propound  a  principle 


50         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

which  had  suddenly  dawned  upon  his  mind  while  he  was 
making  the  charcoal  lines  on  the  brown  paper  horse.  The 
discovery  interested  and  excited  him.  It  was  ever  a  great 
gratification  to  Watts  to  work  impressions  into  principles 
and  talk  them  out  to  a  sympathising  ear,  thereby  securing 
a  permanent  hold  on  them  in  his  mind.  The  particular 
principle  he  expounded  to  me  that  morning  was  with  refer- 
ence to  the  suggestion  of  size,  or  the  reverse,  which  different 
treatments  of  curved  lines  can  produce.  He  had  found,  he 
thought,  the  cause  why  a  "good"  line  in  any  work  of  art 
is  composed  of  a  series  of  flattened  curves  joined  together, 
whereas  a  "  bad  "  line  is  an  even  section  of  a  small  circle, 
therefore  more  tightly  curved.  The  superiority  of  the 
"good"  line  lay  in  the  fact  that  each  flattened  curve  is  a 
section  of  a  large  circle  which,  if  continued,  would  find  its 
completion  far  away  out  of  the  actual  design,  whereas  the 
line  which  is  part  of  a  small  circle,  suggests  a  form  contained 
well  within  a  limited  space.  The  mind  in  the  one  case  is 
started  with  a  sense  of  spring  and  size,  whereas  in  the  other 
it  is  restricted  within  the  limits  of  the  design  which  is  before 
the  actual  eye.  Whatever  suggested  growth  in  the  imagina- 
tion was  to  Watts  the  key-note  of  interest  in  all  works  of 
art.  After  showing  me  the  charcoal  lines  on  the  brown 
paper  which  had  demonstrated  to  him  this  principle,  he 
turned  to  the  "  Theseus  "  which  stood  in  the  porch  of  the 
Iron    Studio.^      There,    as    in    all    fine   form    in    art,    were 

^  It  was  when  seeing  the  cast  of  the  "Theseus"  in  this  position  that  I  first  fully 
realised  the  transcendent  glory  of  this  Pheidian  sculpture.  A  climbing  rose-tree 
grew  round  the  porch,  and  the  afternoon  light  towards  sunset  would  spread  a  golden 
glow  over  the  carmine  blossoms  and  fall  on  the  splendour  of  the  Greek  forms, 
adding  that  charm  of  sunlit  bloom  which  can  never  be  seen  in  the  prison  walls  of 
a  museum,  and  which,  when  I  found  myself  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  made 
me  long  that  we  English  should  return  our  Pheidian  marbles  to  their  rightful 
home  under  the  light  of  Grecian  skies. 


SCULPTURE  51 

examples  of  his  newly-established  fact ;  also  in  vegetation, 
in  trees ;  indeed  wherever  form  expressed  life,  growth, 
spring,  and  onward  movement,  there  was  his  principle  to 
be  found. 

The  difficulty  that  existed  for  Watts  in  the  ordinary 
method  of  working  the  first  design  for  a  statue  in  wet  clay, 
was  that  any  contact  with  damp,  or  even  damp  in  the 
atmosphere,  gave  him  rheumatism.  In  wet  weather  he 
could  not  work  at  all  in  his  sculptor's  studio,  and  the  clay 
model  could  not  be  left  for  months  together  without  con- 
tinual attention,  and  without,  in  any  case,  losing  some  of  the 
precision  of  the  modelling.  An  Italian  sculptor,  Fabrucci 
by  name,  was  introduced  to  Watts  about  this  time,  who 
showed  him  a  method  which  overcame  these  difficulties. 
He  made  a  mixture  of  size  and  plaster  powder  in  which  he 
soaked  pieces  of  tow,  and  it  was  with  layers  of  these  pieces 
of  soaked  tow  that  Watts  achieved  the  modelling  of  "  Hugh 
Lupus,"  and  subsequently  "  Physical  Energy,"  and  also 
worked  on  the  never-to-be-finished  "  Aurora."  The  tow 
and  plaster  hardened  into  a  substance  which  Watts  could 
cut,  indeed  almost  chisel,  into  the  forms  he  wanted.  While 
wet,  with  the  points  of  his  fingers  he  would  model  this 
squashy  substance  into  the  rough  form  of  the  muscles. 
Fabrucci  remained  with  him  some  years  as  an  assistant. 
The  "  Hugh  Lupus "  was  finished  in  comparatively  few 
years,  and  we  watched  it  being  drawn  down  Melbury  Road 
under  an  enormous  sheet  on  its  way  to  Mr.  Moore's  foundry 
at  Thames  Ditton.  Watts  was  much  relieved  on  receiving 
the  telegram  to  say  it  had  arrived  safely.  One  morning  I 
saw  a  beautiful  sight  in  Watts'  garden.  The  sun  was  shining 
gaily  through  the  bright  green  leaves,  clean  in  their  May 
freshness,  when  through  the  trees  a  gorgeous  white  steed  was 
led  by  a  groom ;  a  large,  grandly-rounded  Normandy  animal. 


52         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

brilliantly  white — as  white  as  the  horse  in  Watts'  "Sir 
Galahad  " — with  rippling,  shining  mane  and  tail,  and  partly 
covered  with  beautiful  purple  silk  trappings.  The  Duke  of 
Westminster  had  sent  it  to  "sit"  to  Watts.  He  told  me  it 
did  not  help  him  much  in  finishing  his  statue,  but  the  sight 
of  it  remained  in  his  mental  eye  long  after  whenever  he  was 
painting  horses. 

The  heroic  statue  "Vital  Energy"  is  the  greatest  example 
that  exists  of  Watts'  persistency  in  endeavouring  to  complete 
a  work ;  but  the  difficulties  were  almost  insurmountable. 
The  actual  size  of  the  work  was  perhaps  the  greatest  impedi- 
ment, for  to  cope  with  it  successfully  meant  physical  con- 
ditions which  did  not  belong  to  Watts'  constitution.  An 
ingenious  method  of  making  changes  in  the  lines  of  the 
horse  had  been  invented,  and  I  think  probably  this  prolonged 
the  work  greatly.  Iron  bars  had  been  made  of  the  right 
length  for  the  limbs  of  the  man  and  horse — the  length  of 
these  of  course  never  changing  as  they  represented  the 
bones,  and  at  the  end  of  each  was  a  hook  or  an  eye.  Before 
the  muscles  had  been  added  to  these  bars  the  hooks  were 
fastened  into  the  eyes,  and  turned  into  the  direction  Watts 
meant  the  limb  to  take.  If  he  wanted  to  alter  any  direction 
of  the  line  of  any  limb  after  the  modelling  of  the  flesh  had 
been  added,  he  had  but  to  saw  through  the  tow  and  plaster, 
adapt  the  hook  and  eye  to  a  different  angle,  and  fill  in  the 
gap  with  fresh  tow  and  plaster.  This  method  was  certainly 
most  ingenious,  but  it  led  to  many  experiments  and  in- 
numerable changes.  Had  Watts  been  able  to  work  steadily 
on  the  statue  with  the  first  impetus  of  origination,  the  work 
would  doubtless  have  been  very  different  from  what  it  is 
now.  Indeed  I  have  seen  it  actually  pass  through  more  than 
one  phase,  when  I  thoup^ht  it  carried  out  the  very  fine  small 
sketch   he  made  originally,  with   better  success  than   it  did 


SCULPTURE  53 

later.  Having  to  take  up  the  work  for  a  few  months  only, 
and  then  having  to  leave  it  for  many  months,  meant  that 
Watts'  mind  had  been  directed  and  occupied  in  other  direc- 
tions between ;  and  though  he  never  lost  the  conscious 
purpose  he  wished  to  express,  the  fact  of  having  to  leave  off 
and  start  afresh  after  a  lapse  of  months  prevented  his  con- 
tinuing a  happy  vein  of  interest  in  it  which  might,  if  prolonged, 
have  enabled  him  to  finish  it.  He  would  often  say,  "  If  I 
could  only  go  straight  on  with  the  horse  I  think  I  could  make 
something  of  it."  The  hooks  and  eyes  would  not  have  been 
undone  so  often  I  believe  had  this  been  possible.  He  partly 
lost  the  impulse  of  the  idea  during  the  non-working  months, 
and,  trying  to  recover  it,  he  made  fundamental  changes  which 
put  the  finishing  as  far  away  as  ever.  After  years  of  work  on 
"Vital  Energy,"  he  writes  on  September  20,  1893,  "  ^Y  poor 
statue  has  been  cut  into  pieces  several  times,  the  legs  only 
are  on  the  horse  just  now."  The  "Aurora"  also  did  not 
advance.  Watts'  imagination  had  been  fired  with  the  ac- 
count of  the  great  Athena,  the  chryselephantine  statue  by 
Pheidias,  for  which  the  Parthenon  erected  on  the  Acropolis 
at  Athens  was  the  shrine.  He  hoped  to  carry  out  this  figure 
of  "Aurora"  in  gold  and  ivory.  The  breaking  forth  of 
daylight,  the  fearless  strength  of  the  sun's  rays  dispersing 
all  darkness  and  gloom,  was  the  idea  he  sought  to  embody 
in  the  erect  woman's  figure  risen  undraped  in  front  of  the 
folds  of  drapery  which  had  covered  her  before  the  dawn. 
When  Watts  was  eighty-six  years  of  age,  he  showed  it 
me  and  explained  afresh  how  he  still  hoped  it  would  be 
carried  out  in  gold  and  ivory,  adding  that  perhaps  celluloid 
might  be  used  instead  of  real  ivory.  The  statue,  however, 
never  got  beyond  the  stage  it  reached  in  1880.  He  describes 
in  letters  how  he  had  been  cutting  her  about  and  making 
very  important  changes.     He  told  us  that  he  had  used  as 


54         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

models  for  this  figure  a  life-guardsman  and  the  girl  from 
whom  he  made  the  fine  drawings  on  brown  paper,  and  from 
whom  also  he  painted  "Daphne."  I  have  always  had  the 
feeling  regarding  both  statues — "Physical  Energy"  and 
"Aurora" — that  the  flatness  of  the  planes  and  the  straight- 
ness  of  the  lines  were  exaggerated.  Watts  would  un- 
doubtedly have  modelled  the  surface  into  somewhat  rounder 
form  had  he  ever  reached  the  point  of  feeling  quite  happy 
about  the  design.  In  painting,  even  when  he  was  not 
working  from  inspiring  nature,  he  yet  had  the  excitement 
in  his  love  of  colour  to  spur  on  his  interest  beyond  the 
intentional  and  the  theoretic  aim  ;  but  with  this  medium  of 
tow  and  plaster  no  inspiration  in  the  actual  manipulation 
could  be  aroused.  The  beautiful  bust  of  "  Daphne,"  of  which 
he  gave  me  a  photograph,  was  modelled  in  clay,  and  would 
have  been  a  worthy  companion  to  "  Clytie "  had  it  been 
carried  out  by  Watts'  own  hand  in  marble. 

In  the  summer  of  1903,  in  speaking  of  the  statue  of 
Tennyson  he  had  begun,  he  told  me  it  was  "  not  good," 
and  that  he  should  never  finish  it. 

There  is  an  interesting  history  connected  with  the 
Stanley^  monument  which  was  placed  in  the  ancient 
church  of  Holyhead  in  1897.  During  the  last  months  of 
Mrs.  Stanley's  life,  the  restoration  of  the  old  Parish  Church 
of  St,  Cybi,  which  is  of  great  historic  and  architectural 
interest,  filled  her  thoughts,  and  her  plan  included  a  monu- 
ment to  her  husband,  whom  she  had  loved  so  dearly,  and 
whose  life  had  been  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  Holyhead. 

In  early  life  a  deep  impression  had  been  made  on  her 
mind  by  a  beautiful  tomb  in  the  Certosa  di  Pavia,  near 
Milan,  erected  in  memory  of  the  Founder.     She  imparted 

^  The  Hon.  William  Owen  Stanley  of  Penrhos  (twin  brother  of  Lord  Stanley 
of  Alderley),  for  many  years  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Anglesey. 


THE  HON.  WILLIAM  OWEN  STANLEY 
From  the  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts,  1877 


rr 

^\'6i  ,?AihW  .H  .O  yd  anitnU*!  sr'J  moiH 


SKETCHES  FOR  STANLEY  MONUMENT 
By  G.  F.  Watts 


) 


MONUMENT  TO  THE  HON.  W.  OWEN  STANLEY 
By  Hamo  Thornycroft,  R.A. 


m 


"H. 


n 


Vi 


SCULPTURE  55 

to  Watts  her  desire  for  an  altar  tomb  with  a  recumbent 
figure  and  watching  angels  at  the  head  and  feet,  and 
obtained  his  consent  eventually  to  execute  such  a  memorial. 
But  Mrs.  Stanley  passed  away  in  1876,  and  left  the  com- 
pletion of  her  lifelong  dream  as  a  sacred  trust  to  her  niece, 
Miss  Adeane. 

In  1877  Mr.  Stanley  sat  to  Watts  for  his  portrait,  which 
resulted  in  a  wonderful  likeness,  recalling  to  all  who  knew 
him  the  characteristics  of  his  fine  head  and  impressive 
features. 

Years  elapsed,  and  the  matter  faded  from  the  artist's 
mind.  One  February  morning  in  1884  Watts  came  in  to 
see  me  while  I  was  at  breakfast,  agitated  by  the  receipt  of 
a  telegram  announcing  the  death  of  Mr.  Stanley  in  Wales, 
and  requesting  him  to  send  some  one  to  take  a  cast  of  the 
face.  Watts  felt  that  he  was  already  overwhelmed  with  work, 
and  that  he  had  entered  into  other  schemes  which  would 
more  than  fill  his  life.  He  begged  me  to  pass  on  the  request 
to  Mr.  Hamo  Thornycroft,  and  to  tell  him  that  he  would 
endeavour  to  obtain  leave  to  transfer  to  him  the  commission 
for  the  monument.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing  ;  but  a  series 
of  difficulties  ensued  which,  but  for  Miss  Adeane's  per- 
severance, must  have  proved  insurmountable. 

Living  as  I  did  between  the  studios  of  Watts  and  Mr. 
Thornycroft,  and  being  a  connection  of  the  Adeane  family, 
I  acted  as  a  sort  of  medium  in  the  transaction.  One 
complication  arose  from  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Stanley's  legacy 
specified  that  the  monument  would  be  executed  by  Watts, 
and  the  executors  only  consented  that  another  hand  should 
undertake  it  if  Watts  collaborated.  The  fact  of  the  two 
artists  being  friends  solved  this  difficulty,  and  Watts  illus- 
trated his  idea  of  what  the  design  might  be  in  sketches, 
he  drew,  in  letters  to  me.     (See  illustrations.) 


56         REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

Mr.  Watts  followed  the  progress  of  the  memorial  with 
keen  interest,  and  considered  it  one  of  the  finest  works  of 
art  executed  in  modern  times. 

While  I  was  sitting  to  my  friend,  Mrs.  Thornycroft,  the 
sculptress,  for  my  portrait,  Watts  would  come  in  and  indulge 
in  a  little  manipulation  of  the  clay.  "Ah!"  he  would  say, 
"there  is  nothing  like  clay.  I  wish  /  could  use  it."  If, 
indeed,  Watts  could  have  used  clay,  fine  works  ranking  with 
the  "Clytie"  might  have  been  the  result.  As  it  is,  very  fine 
though  certain  views  of  "Vital  Energy"  may  be,  my  own 
feeling  is  a  sad  one  when  I  think  of  the  great  amount  of 
Watts'  very  precious  time  that  was  spent  on  "  Vital 
Energy"  and  "Aurora,"  and  the  eventual  results  when  com- 
paring these  to  the  work  which  emerged  from  his  painter's 
studio. 


CHAPTER  V 

OUR    FRIENDSHIP 

Watts  wrote,  as  I  have  previously  said,  that  the  two  things 
his  experience  had  proved  to  be  worth  Hving  for  were  to  do 
as  much  good  as  possible  for  humanity  and  to  have  friends. 
Friendship  with  Watts  I  found  to  be  a  very  inspiring  and 
dehghtful  addition  to  Hfe.  It  entailed,  however,  great  re- 
sponsibilities,^ and  it  also  absorbed  much  time.  As  regarded 
my  own  companionship  with  him  in  his  life  of  art  and 
thought,  it  was  so  nourishing  to  all  the  best  purposes  I  had 
in  view  for  my  own  work,  that  I  felt  that  no  time  which 
I  was  able  to  give  from  other  occupations,  nor  trouble  that 
I  could  take  in  helping  him,  could  prevent  my  feeling  other 
than  his  debtor. 

Watts  had  a  very  distinct  personality,  and  was  possessed 
of  great  charm.  That  rare  indescribable  something,  which  is 
called  atmosphere  for  want  of  a  closer  definition,  clung  not 
only  about  him  personally  but  about  his  studio,  and  every- 
where in  his  home.^     Whenever  I  entered  the  house  I  felt 

^  Sentences  such  as  "you  must  think  for  me,"  occur  in  his  letters.  He  de- 
pended much  on  the  judgment  of  others  with  regard  to  matters  outside  his  studio 
life. 

2  I  remember  well  when  I  took  my  brother-in-law,  W.  R.  Greg,  for  the  first 
time  to  the  new  Little  Holland  House,  though  Watts  was  out,  his  being  so  much 
struck  by  the  atmosphere  of  the  place.  It  affected  him  as  a  charming  combina- 
tion of  distinction  and  simpHcity.  Mr.  Greg  had  in  his  youth  lived  with  those 
who,  though  rich,  aimed  at  carrying  out  the  principles  of  plain  living  and  high 
thinking.  There  was  certainly  this  same  principle  pervading  Watts'  home  at  that 
time. 

57 


58         REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

a  flavour  of  truly  civilised  gentle  influences  and  of  satisfying 
interests,  which  seemed  to  be  part  of  the  very  air  one 
breathed  in  it.  As  in  very  holy  people  one  is  conscious 
when  with  them  that  their  every  thought  and  action  is 
worked  by  the  mainspring  of  their  being — their  consistency 
in  living  up  to  the  faith  they  profess — ^so,  in  the  atmos- 
phere surrounding  Watts  and  his  work,  consistency  of  pur- 
pose in  carrying  out  the  high  impulses  and  aims  which  he 
had  determined  should  guide  his  art,  infused  a  peculiarly 
refined  simplicity  into  everything  surrounding  him.  One 
felt  always  that  the  right  thing  led  the  way.  It  was  Watts 
and  Watts  alone  whose  personality  dominated  in  his  home 
and  over  every  detail  in  it. 

"  A  grain  of  glory  mixed  with  humbleness 
Cures  both  a  fever  and  lethargickness."^ 

It  was  this  "grain  of  glory  "  which  made  his  confiding  friend- 
ship in  every  sense  helpful.  It  directed  the  thoughts  on 
to  higher  levels,  not  only  in  art,  but  in  all  directions.  As 
in  training  for  a  race  the  utmost  care  must  be  taken  to  be 
in  the  best  physical  condition ;  so  Watts  felt,  he  used  to 
say,  that  in  order  to  carry  out  his  high  aims  his  mental  and 
moral  nature  must  be  kept  up  to  its  highest  level.  Another 
satisfaction  in  the  daily  intercourse  we  had  with  him  arose 
from  the  fact  that  Watts  always  took  his  friends,  to  say  the 
least,  at  their  best.  Nothing  makes  us  better  than  to  be 
believed  in  by  those  whose  opinion  we  value.  One  of 
Watts'  greatest  pleasures  in  life  was  to  feel  enthusiasm.  This 
seemed  in  him  to  be  the  natural  reaction  following  nervous 
depression.  He  was  so  generous  in  his  feelings  of  sympathy 
that  he  was  apt  to  exaggerate  both  the  merits  of  his  friends 
and  the  value  of  their  artistic    performances,   but  however 

^  George  Herbert. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  59 

incredulous  the  friend  might  be  of  meriting  his  enthusiastic 
praises,  it  was  not  the  contrary  of  pleasant  to  be  thus  beHeved 
in  by  Watts/  Though  "plain  living  and  high  thinking" 
was  the  aim  of  his  life,  daily  intercourse  with  him  was  very 
far  from  erring  on  the  side  of  serious  dullness.  A  latent 
vitality  and  playfulness  of  mind  could  easily  be  aroused,  and 
would  quickly  dispel  his  melancholy  moods.  It  was  not  long 
before  Mr,  Barrington  and  I  found  out  that  the  best  help 
we  could  give  to  Watts  in  the  solitary  life  he  had  chosen, 
beyond  my  helping  him  in  his  work,  was  to  chase  away  the 
weariness  which  led  to  his  melancholy  in  the  hours  of  rest. 
I  had  learnt  the  value  of  an  atmosphere  of  "  all  things  bright 
and  beautiful  "  when  having  to  live  with  sensitive  excitable 
nerves  and  the  dejection  often  accompanying  them,  from  one 
who,  like  my  friend,  Mrs.  Nassau  Senior,  radiated  to  all 
around  her  the  joy  she  herself  felt  in  the  beautiful  gifts  of 
nature  we  inherit  as  human  beings.^  In  the  lax  hours  of 
rest  from  his  painting  or  sculpture,  the  dwelling  on  "all 
things  bright  and  beautiful "  was  certainly  the  best  medicine 
for  Watts  when  he  was  weary.  Pure,  innocent,  delightful 
thoughts  and  ideas  would  spring  up  in  his  mind  with  renewed 
vigour  when  inoculated  by  the  vitality  of  other  minds  in  sym- 
pathy with  his  own,  and  to  ventilate  these  in  conversation 

^  A  piece  of  painting  I  had  done  pleased  him.  He  said  it  was  "nothing  short  of 
Holbein  !  "  He  praised  it  in  the  same  terms  to  Leighton.  The  next  time  Leigh- 
ton  came  to  my  studio  I  remember  him  saying,  his  eyes  full  of  fun,  "Now  let's  see 
the  Holbein  !"  Leighton  fully  understood  Watts.  It  was  a  wholesome  counteract- 
ing influence  to  get  criticism  from  Leighton  on  the  work  Watts  praised.  In  the 
case  in  question,  whatever  my  painting  was  like,  it  was  not  like  Holbein.  Watts 
was  a  splendid  teacher,  but  no  critic  of  the  work  of  his  friends.  Leighton^  on  the 
contrary,  criticised  all  work  as  he  would  his  own — absolutely  impartially,  and  with 
but  one  aim,  to  improve  it  by  finding  out  what  in  it  was  wrong  or  lacking. 

^  This  was  my  husband's  mother.  Lady  Catherine  Barrington,  who  retained 
to  the  end  of  a  long  life  the  beautiful  happiness  arising  from  feeling  a  joy  in  all 
that  is  best  in  the  world,  which  the  nicest,  most  natural  children  possess.  Her 
motto  was  :  "  All  things  bright  and  beautiful." 


6o        REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

was  the  best  antidote  for  all  his  ordinary  ills  and  ailments, 
mental  and  physical,  even  when  he  felt  most  tired  out. 
I  do  not  think  Watts  was  ever  really  dull  in  those  days  even 
when  quite  alone,  which  he  was  at  times  for  weeks  to- 
gether when  his  friends  were  away.  His  mind  was  too 
active  for  him  to  feel  dull.  He  was  but  a  moderate  reader, 
but  books,  as  well  as  adding  to  his  store  of  information, 
suggested  a  great  deal  to  his  fancy.  A  book  would  start  a 
train  of  ideas  quite  outside  and  beyond  its  own  contents.  At 
all  times  Watts'  mind  was  prone  to  exaggerate  any  difficulties 
which  arose  in  daily  life  ;  to  be  scared  by  imaginary  dangers, 
and  to  get  nervously  excited  over  trifles.^  He  lived  many 
hours  alone  in  his  studio.  He  felt  work  a  great  strain  on  his 
frail  physique  and  sensitive  nervous  system.  When  that 
strain  relaxed  he  had  but  little  vitality  left  to  combat  alone 
any  difficulties  or  worries.  When  we  were  in  the  country 
these  worries  would  arrive  to  me  by  post  in  long  letters 
which  reflected  the  fears  and  agitations  he  was  feeling,  which 
five  minutes'  cheerful  talk  would  probably  have  calmed  and 
dispelled.  He  never  got  quite  free  from  the  thought  of  his 
work,  so  that  a  sympathy  and  interest  in  it,  and  in  the  great 
questions  pertaining  to  his  view  of  art,  were  a  necessary 
accompaniment  to  the  true  intimacy  of  friendship.  Such 
sympathy  and  interest  I  had  no  difficulty  in  giving — indeed, 
it  was  a  great  delight  to  do  so.  From  a  child  the  world  of 
art  had  ever  been  a  world  of  enchanted  ground  to  me,  also 
from  a  child  Watts'  art  had  been  the  art  that  had  appealed 
to  me  as  the  most  interesting.  He  no  doubt  greatly  ex 
aggerated  the  value  of  my  performances  ;  but  neither  he  nor 

^  One  evening  when  our  boy  and  a  little  girl  who  was  staying  with  us  had 
gone  with  my  maid  to  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  had  not  returned  quite  so  early  as 
we  expected  them,  having  missed  a  train,  Watts  became  full  of  nervous  anxiety. 
Very  early  next  morning  he  sent  in  to  know  if  they  were  safe^  and  later  in  the 
day  he  told  me  he  could  not  sleep  all  night  for  the  anxiety  he  fek  about  them. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  6i 

any  other  could  have  exaggerated  the  Interest  and  joy  which 
beauty  in  nature  and  in  the  great  art  of  translating  it  worthily 
has  always  given  me.  So  our  friendship  was  cemented  and 
made  very  real  by  the  fact  that  our  real  point  de  r^u7iion  lay 
outside  and  beyond  any  personal  liking ;  there  was  a  some- 
thing we  each  cared  for  individually  and  enjoyed  indepen- 
dently of  each  other  which  made  a  common  ground  on  which 
we  could  meet  and  discuss  our  mutual  interests. 

So  far  as  Watts'  outward  life  was  concerned  his  days 
passed  absolutely  monotonously.  Before  we  came  to  live 
at  Melbury  House,  while  staying  in  Rutland  Gate,  we  met 
him  more  than  once  taking  his  daily  walk  to  Hyde  Park 
Corner  in  the  sealskin  coat  of  Rossetti's  studio  memories. 
Later  he  would  sometimes  walk  to  Hammersmith  to  the 
studio  of  a  sculptor  friend,  where  he  carried  almost  to  com- 
pletion the  beautiful  "  Daphne "  which  was  to  be  a  com- 
panion to  the  *'Clytie."  Something  occurred  during  the 
casting,  and  it  was  never  fully  worked  out — a  most  grievous 
pity.  When  he  started  the  Equestrian  Statue  and  the 
Aurora — also  never  finished — which  he  carried  on  princi- 
pally In  the  garden,  he  found  he  had  had  sufficient  air  and 
exercise  without  taking  a  walk,  and  preferred  the  relaxation 
of  companionship  and  conversation.  The  most  neighbourly 
kind  of  intimacy  soon  established  itself  between  us.  A  few 
scraps  of  notes  have  turned  up  among  his  letters.  One 
asks  if  I  had  an  amusing  book  to  lend  him — no  matter  how 
stupid.  He  would  gather  all  those  I  had  lent  him  pre- 
viously and  send  them  In  next  day.  In  another  he  asks  me 
to  lend  him,  or  give  him  if  I  liked,  half  a  tumbler  of  claret. 
Again  after  a  cold  he  wrote  he  was  very  seedy,  but  asked 
me  to  come  in  if  I  had  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  to  receive  his 
thanks  for  the  champagne.  His  doctor  desired  him  to  give 
me  his  compliments  and  to  say  it  is  the  very  thing  he  would 


62         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

have  ordered  if  he  had  dared,  but  knowing  Watts'  objection 
to  such  things  he  had  not  had  the  pluck  to  do  so.  In  another 
he  wrote  he  was  afraid  by  my  sending  the  book  and  the 
apples  (for  which  he  thanked  me),  that  I  was  not  well  enough 
to  come  in.  He  was  beginning  to  think  I  was  as  clever 
at  catching  cold  as  he  was,  "  and  I  thought  I  had  the 
monopoly ! "  One  other  little  scrap  is  too  characteristic  to 
be  left  out.  I  was  bringing  Lady  Augusta  Cadogan  to  see 
Watts'  work,  and  she  had  also  asked  me  to  take  her  to  Burne- 
Jones'  studio.  Watts  had  begged  me  to  bring  her  first  to 
see  him  as  he  dreaded  her  finding  his  pictures  a  great  come 
down  after  seeing  Burne-Jones'.  But  later  he  writes,  "  I  find 
it  will  be  more  convenient  to  me  if  you  take  Burne-Jones' 
studio  first.  After  all  it  is  but  vanity  which  makes  me  wish 
to  come  first  and  escape  comparison,  a  base  sentiment  which 
should  not  be  encouraged.  What  is,  is,  and  one  should  not 
desire  to  make  it  seem  to  be  other.  I  would  beat  every 
other  artist  if  I  could,  but  I  would  not  put  another  man's 
work  in  a  worse  light,  or  place  my  own  so  as  to  give  it  an 
unreal  advantage.  Therefore  I  won't  wish  them  to  be  first 
seen." 

About  this  time  I  caught  the  mumps  from  my  boy  while 
I  was  staying  with  my  sister.  Watts  writes  on  April  3rd, 
1878,  that  he  is  so  sorry  to  hear  that  I  am  ill.  The  only 
satisfaction  is  that  I  am  with  my  sister.  He  hopes  I  shall 
soon  be  all  right  again.  "Lady  Darnley  will,  of  course,  be 
always  most  welcome  to  bring  any  of  her  friends  to  see  my 
failures."  His  dear  little  adopted  daughter  Blanche,  who  is 
staying  with  him,  writes  also :  "  We  are  so  sorry  you  have 
been  ill,  and  hope  you  are  better  now.  Signor  hopes  to  hear 
soon  that  you  are  well  again.  Signor  and  I  went  to  a 
concert  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  yesterday  afternoon.  W^e 
are  going  to  one  at  Mr.  Leighton's  on  Tuesday.      I   hope  we 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  63 

shall  see   you   again   soon. — Yours  affectionately,   Blanche 
Clogstoun." 

It  was  during  the  early  days  of  our  friendship  with  Watts 
that  he  showed  an  interest  in  my  having  a  suitable  studio, 
and  after  he  had  discussed  the  matter  with  Mr.  Barrington 
it  was  decided  that  one  should  be  built  at  the  end  of  our 
garden  ;  and  to  this  he  would  send  his  pictures  for  me  to 
copy  or  enlarge,  and  here  it  was  that  he  used  to  give  me 
invaluable  lessons  on  them,  or  on  any  models  who  were 
sitting  to  me.  He  would  constantly  insist  on  my  doing  my 
own  work  and  carrying  out  many  designs  which  I  had  made 
rather  than  that  I  should  work  on  his.  Before  my  studio 
was  built  I  used  to  work  in  the  iron  house  in  his  garden 
solely  on  his  designs.  He  had  asked  us  to  have  a  gate 
made  in  the  paling  between  the  two  gardens  in  order  that 
he  need  not  go  out  into  the  road  to  reach  my  studio.  When 
he  was  working  at  his  sculpture  he  wore  one  or  other  of  two 
blouses  I  had  given  him,  one  a  blue  linen  one  brought  from 
Brittany,  prettily  embroidered  in  white  cotton,  the  other  a 
genuine  English  peasant  smock  worked  in  a  cottage  in 
Somerset.  Neither  seemed  a  costume  to  appear  in  even  in 
our  semi-country  roads  in  Kensington,  and  Watts  had  not 
a  moment  to  give  to  any  unnecessary  changing  of  garments. 
I  had  had  my  studio  walls  lined  with  casts  of  the  Parthenon 
Frieze,  and  the  figures  from  the  Nike  Athena  Temple  on 
the  Acropolis.  Watts'  eye  always  lingered  on  these  while 
here,  and  he  would  point  out  the  special  character  and 
beauty  of  the  form  and  compare  it  with  any  model  who 
might  be  sitting  to  me,  to  show  how  full  of  truth  to  nature 
is  this  work  of  the  Pheidian  school,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  was  treated  with  such  breadth  and  decorative  feeling.  I 
cannot  be  too  grateful  to  Watts  for  having  taught  me  to 
analyse  the  qualities  in  which  lay  the   perfection   of  Greek 


64         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.   F.    WATTS 

art,  for  it  deepened  my   insight   into  the  work  which  had 
always  possessed  a  strong  influence  over  me. 

When  we  had  first  settled  in  Melbury  House,  he  had 
written  to  say,^  that  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  portion  out 
his  time  in  lots — such  a  time  for  work,  for  receiving  people 
on  business,  and  for  seeing  friends,  and  separate  times  for 
seeing  these  last — asking  us,  as  we  were  on  the  spot,  to 
take  from  one  o'clock  to  three  (he  dined  at  one),  or  the 
evening  hour  from  six  to  eight.  The  first  was  quite  impos- 
sible for  us  ;  but,  as  often  as  we  possibly  could,  and  that  was 
nearly  every  evening  for  eight  years  when  we  were  in 
London,  we  went  in  about  six.  The  busiest  people  naturally 
have  to  lead  the  most  monotonous  lives  when  the  work  is 
such  as  that  Watts  was  doing,  so  we  did  our  best  to  fall 
into  his  arrangements.  He  was  fond  of  seeing  people  if  they 
would  come  to  his  studio,  and  therefore  I  would  often  take 
in  friends  and  acquaintances  I  thought  he  would  like  to  see 
between  two  and  three  o'clock.  It  was  always  a  happiness 
to  Watts  to  see  beautiful  people,  so  I  would  always  endeavour 
to  take  all  our  beautiful  friends  in  to  see  him.  Only  the 
most  intimate  were  admitted  in  the  evening  hours,  and  that 
but  rarely.  Among  these  were  Mrs.  de  Morgan  (then  Miss 
Pickering),  Miss  Ida  Verner,  both  artists,  and  my  sister, 
Mrs.  Greg.  Evening  after  evening  the  same  thing  happened. 
I  would  go  in  first,  Mr.  Barrington  generally  joining  us  a 
little  later.  In  the  winter  months  Watts  was  in  his  sitting- 
room,  always  in  the  same  claret-coloured  velvet  armchair 
reading.  (He  never  painted  by  artificial  light.)  The  servant 
having  opened  the  door  and  announced  me,  the  book  was 
thrown  aside,  the  spectacles  taken  off,  he  would  rub  his  eyes 
with  his   fingers   and  almost   invariably  begin  with,   "  Well, 

'  This  letter  has  no  date  but  "  Saturday  morning,"  and  having  been  sent  in  by 
hand  has  no  post  mark,  but  it  must,  I  think,  have  been  written  in  1878. 


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OUR   FRIENDSHIP  65 

what's  the  news  ? "  That  little  scene,  as  it  was  enacted 
so  many  hundreds  of  times  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  has 
become  stereotyped  in  my  memory.  I  have  but  to  shut 
my  eyes  and  I  see  it  before  me.  The  most  deeply  inter- 
esting news  was  naturally  how  the  work  got  on,  how  certain 
experiments  with  colours  had  answered,  or  what  pictures  had 
been  seen.  Watts  had  what  we  called  "  field  days "  with 
certain  pigments.  One  day  it  would  be  the  effect  of  burnt 
sienna  rubbed  over  a  ground  of  light  red  ;  another,  the  effect 
of  ultramarine  over  raw  umber,  or  various  other  combinations 
of  warm  or  cool  tint,  always  simple  colours,  generally  the 
earths.^  How  deeply  interesting  were  all  these  experiments 
and  the  different  results.  I  used  to  try  to  transmit  our 
precious  discoveries  to  Leighton,  but  he  was  somewhat 
sceptical  as  to  their  importance,  and  would  exclaim,  **  Oh, 
la  cuisine,  Mrs.  Barrington !  la  cuisine ! "  Watts  had  com- 
mitted one  wholesale  piece  of  extravagance.  He  had  bought 
a  large  bottle  of  pure  ultramarine  (ground  lapis  lazuli)  in 
the  powder.  He  used  no  blue  but  this,  thinking  every  other 
inferior  and  less  precious  in  quality.  Not  only  were  the 
colours  but  the  grounds  subjects  of  endless  experiments  by 
Watts.  The  quality  he  disliked  most  was  that  of  an  oily 
**  painty  "  surface.  He  was  long  seeking  for  a  ground  which 
would  at  the  same  time  be  absorbent  and  safe.  He  tried 
canvasses  rubbed  over  with  gesso,  but  he  found  the  gesso  was 
apt  to  work  up  into  the  paint.^     Watts  also  tried  painting  on 

^  Watts  went  to  Windsor  &  Newton  for  his  colours,  and  from  the  first  had 
given  them  strict  instructions  never  to  send  him  any  colour,  even  if  he  had  ordered 
it,  which  was  not  known  to  be  absolutely  safe.  He  gave  me  the  book  which 
Windsor  &  Newton  had  published  giving  the  analyses  of  the  colours  and  how  to 
use  them  with  safety — "  Field's  Chromatography  ;  or.  Treatise  on  Colours  and 
Pigments  as  used  by  Artists."  An  entirely  new  and  practical  edition  by  Thomas 
W.  Salter,  F.C.G. 

2  An  example  of  this  result  is  now  to  be  seen  at  Leighton  House.  Leighton 
had  followed  Watts'  advice  and  had  tried  a  gesso  ground  for  his  picture  entitled 

E 


66         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

an  absolutely  raw  canvass  without  any  preparation  whatever ; 
but  this  entailed  too  lengthy  a  process  for  ordinary  work,  the 
mere  getting  the  colour  on  involving  so  much  labour.  He 
painted  one  charming  head  of  "  Blanche,"  his  adopted 
daughter,  on  muslin  stretched  over  the  canvass  ;  but 
eventually  decided  on  one  specially  prepared  for  him  by 
Smith  his  frame-maker,  which  was  only  semi-absorbent. 
Before  beginning  a  picture  he  would  often  paint  over  his 
canvasses  with  some  colour  which  would  be  opposed  to  the 
tone  he  intended  a  picture  to  have,  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple followed  by  the  artists  who  painted  the  famous  old 
Venetian  and  Cordovan  leather.  They  spread  a  silver 
ground  for  designs  which  were  to  be  carried  out  in  gold, 
and  a  gold  ground  for  designs  which  were  to  be  carried  out 
in  silver.  Watts  dried  the  oil  out  of  his  colours  by  putting 
them  on  blotting-paper,  reducing  them  to  a  texture  like  putty 
by  keeping  them  under  water.  His  colours,  when  he  used 
them,  were  nearly  as  dry  as  pastel,  but  without,  of  course, 
the  crumbling  quality.  Quite  new  brushes  were,  he  said, 
almost  useless  to  him.  He  would  wear  the  outside  bristles 
down  on  a  background,  or  by  merely  rubbing  them  on  a  hard 
surface  till  they  became  a  stiff  little  pyramid  the  shape  of  a 
stump  used  for  chalk  drawings,  and  then  they  became  great 
treasures.  He  said  he  believed  the  worst  thing  to  paint 
with  was  a  paint-brush — "  except  the  wrong  end  "  !  He 
would  use  a  paper  or  leather  stump  or  the  handle  of  an 
old  tooth-brush  filed  down  to  a  point, ^  but  the  best  of  all, 
he  thought,  was  the  finger.     When  the  putty-like  pigment 

"  Actea,  or  the  Nymph  of  the  Sea,"  but  finding  that  the  gesso  lifted  off  the  paint, 
he  abandoned  that  canvass  and  painted  the  picture  on  another.  The  unfinished 
picture  is  among  the  sketches  in  Leighton  House. 

1  I  have  still  many  of  such  treasures  which  he  gave  me  to  use  instead  of  brushes  ; 
also  horn  and  ivory  paper-knives,  which  were  to  be  employed  as  he  showed  me  on 
his  own  paintings. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  67 

which  he  put  on  the  canvass  in  distinct  touches  was  nearly 
dry,  he  would  sometimes  take  a  paper-knife,  and,  using 
the  flat  part,  would  rub  it  over  the  touches,  smearing  them 
together.  He  would  not  touch  the  painting  again  till  the 
smeared  surface  was  quite  dry.  Then  he  would  work 
partially  over  it.  In  this  way  he  contrived  to  get  a  bloom 
of  atmosphere  into  his  painting,  a  quality  which  he  invari- 
ably aimed  at.  Watts  possessed  an  extraordinary  amount 
of  ingenuity,  and  thoroughly  enjoyed  using  it,  the  actual 
playing  with  the  paint  being  a  source  of  great  interest  and 
pleasure  to  him.  In  working  out  his  established  methods 
he  ever  kept  his  mind  and  eye  open  to  new  ideas  and 
suggestions.  I  have  often  heard  artists  make  the  remark 
that  Watts  wasted  much  time  in  making  new  experiments. 
He  told  me,  however,  that  in  watching  nature  very  closely 
he  was  constantly  seeing  various  effects  which  required  dif- 
ferent treatment.  Discussions  over  the  particular  discoveries 
of  the  day  always  ended  by  his  saying,  when  the  servant 
came  in  to  lay  the  cloth  for  his  evening  meal,  "  I  hope 
I  have  improved  '  Love  and  Death '  "  (or  mentioning 
whichever  picture  he  had  been  chiefly  working  on).  "  I 
may  have  spoilt  it — I  don't  know !  Come  and  see ! "  or 
some  words  to  this  effect.  Then  he  would  take  the  flat 
candle-stick  that  was  invariably  placed  for  him  on  the  end 
of  the  book-shelf  near  the  door,  a  paper  spill  lying  in  it. 
Lighting  it  from  the  fire,  he  put  the  unburnt  half  on  to  the 
moulding  above  the  fireplace.  Night  after  night  for  all  those 
years  this  process  was  gone  through  in  precisely  the  same 
manner.  I  would  often  warn  him  that  he  might  burn  down 
his  house  some  day  through  the  little  economy,  and  he  would 
generally  answer  in  the  same  words,  "  I  am  very  careful ;  I 
don't  like  waste, — even  of  half  a  spill ! "  Then,  candle  in 
hand,  I  following,  he  would  go  into  the  passage  up  the  five 


68         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

steps  to  the  double  doors  of  the  studio,  through  the  enclosed 
passage  between  them,  where,  from  a  mysterious  little 
window,  we  would  look  down  into  the  sculpture  studio  on 
to  the  giant  horse  and  its  rider — "Hugh  Lupus"  first,  and 
later,  "Physical  Energy" — huge  ghost-like  apparitions  as 
seen  by  the  faint  light  of  the  solitary  candle ;  then  through 
the  second  door  into  the  large  painting  studio, — a  high  space 
of  darkness  just  visible  by  the  one  light,  and  perhaps  a  few 
dying  embers  in  the  grate.  Holding  his  hand  in  front  of 
the  candle,  Watts  would  throw  the  light  on  each  part  of  the 
canvass  in  the  different  pictures  on  which  he  had  been  work- 
ing that  day.  He  was  always  eager  for  criticism.  "  Do  you 
think  I  have  improved  it  ?  I  work  on  till  I  can't  see  what 
I  have  done,"  he  would  often  say.^  The  contrast  was  striking 
between  the  impressive  strength  and  size  of  the  paintings  and 
the  sensitive  frailness  of  the  small  hand  held  up  so  as  to 
shade  the  light  from  everything  but  the  mighty  work  it  had 
achieved.  What  a  wonderful  power  had  the  spirit  and  mind 
of  this  fragile,  ageing  figure  to  create  and  ring  out  grand 
anthems  in  colour  and  design!  It  suggested  to  me  the 
power  of  a  little  bird,  small  and  hidden  among  the  branches 
of  a  tree,  which  can  yet  fill  a  whole  landscape  with  the 
fervour  of  its  thrilling  song.  On  those  winter  evenings, 
when  entering  the  vast,  dark,  silent  studio,  where  the  earnest 
fever  of  the  painter  spent  itself  in  arduous  labour  from  sunrise 

^  My  experience  is  that  Watts  invariably  courted  rather  than  resented  criticism. 
In  many  of  his  letters  there  are  proofs  of  this.  When  he  was  laid  up  he  would  ask 
me  to  go  into  his  studio  or  into  the  gallery  and  write  him  my  criticism.  In  the 
spring  of  1886  he  asks  me  to  go  into  the  gallery  and  look  at  "  Love  and  Life," 
and  give  him  the  benefit  of  my  impression,  in  order  to  help  him  to  finish  it. 
Again,  "Thanks  for  your  criticism  of  '  Love  and  Life';  it  will  help  me.  I  some- 
times have  very  discouraging  doubts  as  to  whether  I  have  not  lost  some  of  my 
natural  (younger)  power  of  seeing  the  exact  shade  of  colour.  This  would  be  fatal 
to  the  painting  of  flesh."  His  modesty  and  the  uncertainty  he  felt  regarding  his 
own  powers  were  truly  astonishing. 


STUDY  FOR  FIGURE  IN  '* CHAOS** 

From  Fresco  by  G*  F.  Watts 


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MMHHiM 


OUR  FRIENDSHIP  69 

to  sunset,  day  after  day,  from  one  year's  end  to  another, 
it  felt  as  if  rising  into  another  order  of  life  than  that  we 
are  all  living  in  these  modern  days,  into  an  atmosphere  that 
inspired  aspiration  and  growth,  while  at  the  same  time  it  was 
resting  and  calming  to  the  nerves.  The  self-centred  individu- 
ality of  the  great  artist  reigned  in  it  consistently  and  alone. 

Watts  loved  colour ;  solemn,  full  colour  glowed  on  his 
canvasses — tints  of  autumn  rather  than  of  summer  or  spring  ; 
the  hues  of  the  chrysanthemum  rather  than  those  of  the 
primrose  or  the  hyacinth,  the  rose  or  the  larkspur.  At  times 
it  could  become  almost  smoked  and  murky,  too  suggestive, 
I  think,  of  decay.  Watts,  the  Celt,  could  not  help  infusing 
an  element  of  his  sadness  even  into  the  richest  schemes  of 
colouring.  These  burn  like  tints  in  autumn  in  the  sad  waning 
of  the  year ;  fire  of  the  beech  tree,  yellow  of  the  chestnut, 
warm  purple  of  the  hawthorn  in  November,  cinnamon  gold 
of  the  coins  that  drape  with  drooping  tassels  the  silvery 
shine  of  birch  stems.  The  greens  are  full  and  strong  like 
the  rank  wet  grass  of  autumn,  not  vivid  gold  and  emerald 
as  in  May  and  June.  And  weaving  the  glowing  passages 
together  there  will  be  inlets  of  blue  distance,  dimming  mists 
and  vaporous  films,  uncertainties  in  tone  and  tint  like  those 
that  float  among  these  burning  autumn  leaves  when  they 
are  aflame  before  they  die.  Like  Brahms'  music,  Watts' 
colour  seems  in  touch  with  the  mystery  and  the  undefined 
in  nature ;  the  touches  are  large  and  loose  in  character, 
however  subtly  suggestive  of  Pheidian  form.  As  with  the 
sounds  from  an  organ  as  they  rise  and  fall,  floating  through 
the  great  vaults  of  a  cathedral,  the  farther  the  music  wanders 
in  the  air  the  more  precision  and  definiteness  of  touch  is 
lost,  but  the  more  impressive  become  the  harmonies ;  so 
on  these  large  canvasses,  the  more  they  became  enriched 
with  solemn  colour  and  subtle  tone,  the  more  they  wandered 


70        REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

beyond  the  definite  design,  the  more  impressive  they  became 
as  pictorial  "anthems." 

Day  after  day  the  ideas  that  were  evolved  reached  a 
further  expression,  and  evening  after  evening  in  those  winter 
months  we  went  in  to  see  this  further  stage  arrived  at,  by 
the  light  of  the  one  candle  shaded  by  the  frail  little  hand. 
When  the  procession  returned  to  the  sitting-room,  Watts  ate 
his  very  frugal  supper,  we  talking,  or  I  reading  to  him.  The 
meal  was  always  the  same — the  cold  remains  of  the  dull 
little  pudding  made  without  sugar  which  had  been  hot  for 
his  dinner  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  a  tumbler  of  milk 
mixed  with  barley-water :  summer  and  winter,  never  any 
change.  Even  out  of  this  very  simple  fare.  Watts,  if  he 
was  tired,  would  evolve  a  tragic  self-reproach.  To  have 
as  much  as  that  distressed  him  ;  and  when  he  thought  of 
all  the  people  who  were  starving  he  could  hardly  eat  it ! 
I  often  tried  to  impress  upon  him  that  if  he  refrained  and 
gave  the  pudding  to  a  beggar,  the  beggar  would  throw  it 
away.  It  was  not  amusing  enough  as  food  for  any  beggars 
I  had  ever  come  across.  He  would  be  easily  laughed  out 
of  his  tragic  moods.  He  attributed  the  great  improvement 
in  his  health  during  the  years  between  the  later  sixties  and 
the  eighties  to  his  strict  diet  and  his  very  regular  habit  of 
living ;  to  the  reposeful  sense  of  seclusion  and  the  monotony 
of  the  accustomed  in  all  outward  matters,  which  left  his 
mind  free  to  absorb  itself  in  work.  He  almost  lost  the 
trying  "brain  sickness,"  accompanied  by  violent  headache, 
which  he  told  me  had  deprived  him  of  quite  half  his  working 
time  when  he  was  younger.^     After  his  supper  Watts  would 

^  Later  on  when  Watts  suffered  from  complications  of  gout  and  bronchitis 
(these  first  started  from  a  chill  contracted  when  he  went  into  the  country  one 
foggy  winter's  day  for  the  christening  of  his  adopted  daughter  Blanche's  baby), 
his  doctor  urged  him  not  to  remain  in  Kensington  during  the  winter.  He  also 
found  later  a  change  to  the  Salisbury  diet  beneficial. 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  71 

often  settle  down  to  nonsense.  He  was  like  a  child  in 
his  power  of  enjoying  nonsense.  Especially  when  Mr. 
Barrington  was  also  in  high  spirits  the  fun  would  become 
rampant.  Watts  had  accumulated  many  ridiculous  stories. 
One  upon  another  he  would  hurry  them  out.  Terrible  puns 
were  made,  every  kind  of  off-shoot  of  high  spirits  which 
he  was  capable  of  rising  to,  and  when  we  left  him  we  felt 
the  happy  satisfaction  that  we  had  helped  him  to  secure  a 
good  night.  On  other  winter  evenings,  his  vitality  re- 
awakened, we  would  plunge  into  serious  and  interesting 
literature.  Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy"  was  a 
favourite  book,  particularly  the  part  describing  herbals  and 
the  cures  they  effected.  Bacon's  Essays,  Ruskin,  and,  at 
times,  the  Old  Testament.  Any  current  literature  that  had 
reference  to  subjects  especially  interesting,  such  as  criticisms 
on  the  art  then  being  exhibited,  we  read.  Some  strange 
works  Watts  would  get  hold  of.  I  remember  two  American 
books  that  greatly  fascinated  him,  dealing  with  somewhat 
scientific,  but  distinctly  fantastic,  new  ideas.  When  I  men- 
tioned these  ideas  to  Lord  Avebury,  then  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
he  said  they  were  quite  unsound  as  science.  Any  book 
that  started  the  working  of  Watts'  own  imagination  naturally 
interested  him,  for  he  enjoyed  greatly  living  in  his  imagina- 
tion. As  a  rule,  in  those  days  we  talked  much  more  than 
we  read.  The  reading  was  the  text ;  the  sermon  was  all 
our  own.  The  playgrounds  we  found  for  our  minds  were 
inspiringly  comprehensive.  Whether  our  knowledge  was 
sound  or  unsound  on  all  the  subjects  we  scampered  over 
was  immaterial ;  there  was  enough  keen  interest,  enough 
keen  vitality  aroused  by  our  ideas  clashing  together  to  strike 
some  original  matter  out  of  most  subjects. 

Owing  to  his  living  so  much  alone  in  his  studio,  and  the 
actual  labour  of  painting   absorbing   so  many  hours  of  the 


72         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

day,  Watts  had  hitherto  remained  somewhat  dumb  on  the 
purely  intellectual  side  of  his  nature  apart  from  his  art. 
Thoughts  would  come  to  him  weighted  with  imagination, 
with  a  mystic  indefinite  feeling  of  poetic  truth,  and  they 
would  fly  away  again  before  he  had  embodied  them  in  any 
expression.  He  often  said  he  felt  the  want  of  a  work-a-day 
intellect  and  tiyne  (he  was  always  longing  for  more  time)  to 
make  use  of  them.  The  larger  forces  of  his  genius  lifted 
him  away  from  the  area  where  the  detail  of  thinking  is 
worked  out  by  ordinary  minds — even  in  painting  he  always 
maintained  that  he  lacked  the  facility  most  artists  possess. 
This  was  partly  owing,  I  believe,  to  the  fact  that  his  ordi- 
nary working  intelligence,  of  which  he  had  really  more  than 
his  share  as  compared  with  most  people,  was  often  stunned 
by  the  excitement  of  origination.  He  would  feel  that  under- 
neath the  positive  light  of  inspiration  was  chaos — a  link 
seemed  to  be  wanting  which  should  have  connected  and 
placed  in  order  the  steps  of  the  ladder  which  led  to  the 
highest.  Like  the  inevitable  forces  in  nature,  certain  im- 
pressions would  work  on  his  imagination  and  inspire  crea- 
tions in  art ;  but  these  could  no  more  be  exhaustively 
explained  by  stating  the  impression  that  started  the  idea, 
than  the  beauty  of  a  lily  can  be  explained  by  saying  that  it 
was  planted  in  leaf-mould  by  the  gardener  who  reared  it, 
however  necessary  for  its  growth  the  leaf-mould  may  have 
been.  Sympathy  was  the  leaf-mould  for  many  of  Watts' 
ideas  ;  I  think  that  by  talking  his  ideas  out  to  me  in  definite 
language  he  would  clench  thoughts  that  were  vaguely  float- 
ing in  his  brain,  and  reduce  them  to  the  state  that  enabled 
him  to  make  use  of  them.  He  was  possessed  by  feelings 
he  could  not  reason  out  by  himself,  but,  when  with  those 
in  sympathy  with  them,  he  developed  the  power  of  disen- 
tangling the  web.      More  and  more  he  delighted  in  talking 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  73 

as  more  and  more  his  latent  power  of  conversing  increased. 
Still  he  would  constantly  say  (I  have  also  dozens  of  letters 
in  which  the  same  excessive  modesty  is  expressed)  that  he 
did  not  know  what  people  meant  by  treating  him  as  a 
person  with  any  intellect.  "  I  feel  I  am  a  goose — more 
stupid  than  any  one  I  ever  met." 

He  wrote — "  I  always  wondered  how  I  could  so  much  take 
the  place  of  Walter  Bagehot  in  your  estimation,  feeling,  as 
,  I  do,  the  immense  difference,  alas!  between  us."  I  had  told 
him  that  he  had  done  something  for  me  in  filling  the  terrible 
gap  which  my  brother-in-law's  death  made  in  our  lives.  I 
and  my  sisters  had  been  singularly  fortunate  in  having  from 
our  earliest  childhood  the  advantage  of  hearing  first-rate 
conversation.  My  father  when  still  young  .went  into  Parlia- 
ment, and  became  almost  at  once  a  member  of  the  Liberal 
Government,  occupying  different  posts,  when  the  Liberals 
were  in,  till  the  time  of  his  death.  Every  public  interest 
he  tried  to  share  with  us  even  when  we  were  quite  small 
children.  I  remember  well  how  delightfully  he  would  talk 
to  us  about  politics  when  we  rode  out  with  him  on  our 
ponies,  or  when  he  took  us  for  long  Sunday  walks,  or  when 
we  went  "down  to  dessert."  Many  of  the  most  interest- 
ing public  men  of  the  day  would  come  on  visits  for  the 
week-ends  when  we  were  in  the  country.  Mr.  W.  R.  Greg, 
who  afterwards  married  my  sister,  almost  lived  with  us 
during  many  years.  He,  like  Watts,  was  possessed  of  a 
charming  "atmosphere,"  and  conversed  most  delightfully. 
Curiously  enough  we  always  called  him  "Signor"  (also 
Watts'  name  among  his  intimates).  Besides  talking  charm- 
ingly, Mr.  Greg  had  a  singular  facility  in  transmitting  other 
people's   ideas,    as   well    as    his   own,  into    writing.^      Then 

^  Walter  Bagehot  told  my  husband,  who  had   never  met  my  father,  that  to 
hear  him  (my  father)  discourse  with  W.  R.  Greg  on  public  questions,  and  the 


74         REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

when  I  was  still  in  the  schoolroom  Walter  Bagehot  came 
into  the  family  as  my  eldest  sister's  husband,  and  his  great 
friend,  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton  of  The  Spectator,  was  a  constant 
visitor,  and  became  very  intimate  with  our  family.  Augustine 
Birrell  ended  a  lecture  he  gave  on  Walter  Bagehot  at 
Leighton  House  (reprinted  in  his  "Miscellanies")  with  the 
words,  "To  know  Walter  Bagehot  through  his  books  is 
one  of  the  good  things  of  life."  (Mr.  Birrell  never  met 
him.)  If  one  of  the  good  things  in  life  was  to  know  Walter 
Bagehot  through  his  books,  a  still  better  thing  was  to  know 
him  intimately  as  a  friend  and  a  relation.  When  my  father 
died  he  took  the  position  of  the  head  of  the  family,  and  he 
and  my  sister  lived  with  us.  Our  friend,  Sir  Mountstuart 
Grant-Duff  quoted  in  his  published  "Notes  from  a  Diary" 
a  letter  from  my  sister,  Mrs.  Greg,  relating  to  Walter 
Bagehot  and  his  Somerset  home.  She  writes,  August  21, 
1887  •  "  ^  3-"^  so  glad  you  have  been  to  Langport.  It  is  to 
me  one  of  the  most  interesting  places  I  ever  go  to  for  its 
associations  with  Walter  Basfehot.  However  much  Herd's 
Hill  may  be  altered  and  embellished,  I  never  forget  for  a 
day  that  it  was  there  that  he  lived  so  great  a  part  of  his 
life  and  died.  No  one  with  whom  I  have  lived  in  close 
contact  has  ever  produced  upon  me  so  much  the  impression 
of  genius  as  he  did.  He  never  needed  to  be  told  anything. 
There  was  something  Shakespearean  in  the  way  in  which 
he  instinctively  knew  what  was  going  on  in  the  minds  of 
all  sorts  of  men,  and  he  brought  to  bear  upon  this  know- 
ledge a  judgment  at  once  so  firm  and  so  clear  that  one  felt 
irresistibly  impelled    to   take   his   conclusions  as  final  when 

subsequent  articles  written  thereon  by  Mr.  Greg,  made  a  most  perfect  combina- 
tion, quite  the  best  he  had  ever  come  across.  My  father  was  noted  for  a  gift  of 
expounding  his  ideas  with  a  singularly  lucid  and  weighty  power.  Mr.  Greg's 
original  writings,  as  is  well  known,  were  chiefly  on  ethical  subjects,  his  best  known 
books  being  "The  Creed  of  Christendom"  and  the  "Enigmas  of  Life." 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  75 

he  came  to  definite  conclusions.  When  he  did  not — and 
his  wisdom  often  held  him  back  from  doin^  so — he  equally- 
satisfied  one's  mind :  it  had  been  enriched,  stirred  with 
living  thought,  delighted  by  the  touch  of  true  humour. 
One's  horizon  had  been  widened ;  one  breathed  more  freely  ; 
one  lived  more  happily.  And  ten  years  ago  all  this  went 
from  us  in  its  prime.  When  burning  the  brightest, — the 
light  suddenly  went  out,  and  I  have  never  ceased  to  feel  that 
things  have  been  darker  ever  since.  It  is  one  of  those  losses 
to  which  one  cannot  reconcile  oneself.  Every  year  his  works 
seem  to  be  more  read  and  more  valued." 

When  still  a  child  I  stayed  with  Madame  Mohl  in  Paris 
where  she  had  a  salon  in  the  Quartier  St.  Germain,  the  last 
of  the  best  kind  of  salon. ^  Here  I  would  sit  with  Madame 
Mohl  and  her  niece  in  a  corner  ottoman  in  her  drawing- 
room,  and  listen  with  delight  to  the  conversation  of  M. 
Mohl  and  the  dite  of  French  savants.  I  remember  the 
effect  it  produced  on  me  even  as  a  child.  It  was,  as  I  recall 
it,  the  perfection  of  the  art  of  talking.  From  earliest  child- 
hood therefore  I  and  my  sisters  heard  talk  of  the  best. 
When  my  husband  and  I  became  the  friends  of  Leighton 
and  Watts  we  had  also  the  benefit  of  delightful  conversa- 
tion, and  for  the  most  part  on  the  subject  which  had  for  me 
the  most  vivid  interest — art. 

^120  Rue  du  Bac  was  a  centre  for  interesting  people  of  all  nationalities,  but 
the  generation  that  knew  it  best  has  almost  passed  away — though  to  a  few  who, 
like  myself,  knew  it  when  a  child,  it  recalls  delightful  memories  which  will  remain 
vividly  interesting  to  the  end.  It  carried  out,  though  on  French  lines,  which 
included  an  excellent  cuisine,  our  English  principle  of  "plain  living  and  high 
thinking."  When  Madame  Mohl  was  eighty-eight  years  old  she  paid  us  a  visit 
of  three  weeks  to  Melbury  House.  Even  Leighton  threw  down  the  barriers  of 
his  fixed  laws  in  order  to  receive  her  during  his  working  hours.  I  remember 
well  the  little  scene  that  took  place  when  she  entered  his  studio  :  he  gallantly  fell 
on  one  knee  and  kissed  her  hand.  The  Uttle  old  lady,  much  pleased,  exclaimed, 
"Ah  !  ce  joli  petit  Leighton,  de  la  Rue  Blanche  1" 


^6        REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

A  literary  acquaintance  of  mine  suggested  to  me  that  I 
should  take  notes  of  our  conversations,  which  might  result 
eventually  in  a  work  similar  to  that  of  the  "Conversations 
with  Goethe  "  by  Eckermann.  I  told  Watts  of  this  sugges- 
tion, and  it  caused  us  both  much  amusement.  Any  one 
knowing  either  Watts'  temperament  or  my  own  would  have 
been  equally  amused.  The  whole  delight  and  inspiring 
value  of  these  talks  lay  so  completely  in  their  spontaneity, — 
in  the  fact  that  thought  and  word  sprang  out  as  an  impulse 
of  the  moment,  and  from  the  mood  of  our  minds  at  that 
moment.  To  have  waited  to  take  notes  would  have  indeed 
spoilt  the  whole  evening's  play.  The  nearest  record  of 
these  conversations  exists  in  Watts'  own  handwriting  on 
those  little  scraps  of  paper  he  used  to  give  me  after  he  began 
to  write  down  his  thoughts,  but  even  these  do  not  fully 
convey  the  charm  of  his  delightful  talk,  nor  of  the  sense  of 
humour  which  he  had,  and  which  he  generally  directed 
against  himself.  The  working  of  his  mind  became  so 
brilliant,  so  elastic,  so  subtle, — his  spirits  so  buoyant  as  they 
flowed  with  vibrating  eagerness,  like  a  child's,  full  to  over- 
flowing with  interest  about  the  thing  he  was  talking  about. 
We  never  talked  of  anything  disagreeable,  and  hardly  ever 
about  people.  A  mutual  friend  once  said,  "  There  is  some- 
thing about  Watts  which  would  make  it  impossible  for  any 
one  to  say  a  coarse  thing  in  his  presence."  I  had,  however, 
once  the  misfortune  to  hear  a  person  speak  in  a  coarse 
manner,  aggravated  by  familiarity,  in  Watts'  presence.  The 
effect  was  so  unpleasantly  distressing,  the  incongruity  so 
great,  that  I  would  have  foregone  the  pleasure  (and  it  was  a 
great  pleasure)  of  Watts'  society  at  any  time  rather  than 
have  been  exposed  to  receiving  again  such  a  disagreeable 
impression.  It  was  like  saying  a  coarse  double  entendre 
to   a    sensitive    child.       It    required,    as    our    mutual    friend 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  ^^ 

remarked,  a  degree  of  abnormal  bluntness  and  want  of  sensi- 
tiveness to  have  perpetrated  such  a  crime.  "  All  things 
bright  and  beautiful "  were  those  most  eminently  suited  to 
Watts'  real  and  most  happy  self.  In  the  carrying  out  of 
his  work  lay  the  truest  and  best  help  he  thought  he  could 
give  to  a  sorrowing  world.  He  felt  that  his  vocation  was 
to  try  to  teach  persuasively  the  minds  of  his  fellow  men 
and  women  through  noble  beauty  and  symbolism  in  art  to 
,  dwell  on  elevating  themes  ;  to  acquire  strength  for  the  daily 
toil  and  weary  labour  apportioned  to  so  many  of  us  in  this 
world  through  looking  upward  and  abroad  to  larger  interests 
and  ideas  than  those  that  close  in  and  surround  the  necessi- 
ties and  experiences  of  merely  personal  concerns.  To  main- 
tain strength  for  his  own  labour  was  clearly  Watts'  first  duty, 
and  to  help  him  to  do  so  that  of  any  who  were  his  real 
friends. 

Watts  would  often  say  that  he  had  been  born  too  early 
in  the  century.  Later  on  vitality  in  art  began  to  kindle  with 
real  fervour ;  the  pre-Raphaelite  school  arose,  and  such 
painters  as  Holman  Hunt,  Rossetti,  Madox  Brown,  and 
Burne-Jones  had  found  a  very  different  and  more  encourag- 
ing atmosphere  in  which  to  develope  their  genius  than  that 
in  which  Watts  found  himself  in  the  day  when  he  began 
to  work.  Then,  he  said,  every  portrait  had  for  its  back- 
ground a  pillar  and  a  curtain,  and  no  connection  whatever 
existed  between  the  intellect  and  the  art  of  the  country! 
He  admired  Etty  gready  as  a  painter,  and  regretted  that 
he  was  so  much  ignored  by  the  younger  men.  Haydon 
interested  him  much,  and  he  felt  in  sympathy  with  him  in 
many  ways.  Haydon  lacked  the  technical  ingenuity  and 
individual  invention  in  the  actual  skill  of  painting  which 
Watts  acquired  through  cleverness  in  guiding  his  ideas 
into  pictorial  expression.     Watts  was  more  patient  and  less 


78        REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

mad,  but  he  had  learnt  much  from  Hay  don.  and  frequently 
discussed  his  character  and  work.  The  fact  alone  that  it 
was  Haydon  who  demolished  the  judgment  of  the  fashion- 
able critic,  Knight,  who  asserted  with  the  positiveness  of  a 
fashionable  critic  that  the  Elgin  Marbles  belonged  to  debased 
schools  of  Roman  sculpture,  and  that  Haydon  had  brought 
the  matchless  frieze  and  fragments  of  the  Parthenon  Pedi- 
ment to  the  notice  of  all  true  art  lovers,  was  sufficient  to 
secure  for  him  Watts'  profound  gratitude. 

With  no  one  so  much  as  with  Watts  have  I  realised  the 
profound  truth  of  "  ennuyer  c'est  tout  dire!"  He  would  not 
be  bored.  He  could  at  times  stand  vulgarity  and  rampant 
Bohemianism  if  combined  with  vitality  and  amusing  audacity, 
but  bored  he  would  not  be.  The  only  time  I  ever  saw  him 
lose  his  good  manners  was  when  I  afflicted  him  with  a  visit 
from  an  acquaintance  who  had  been  lunching  with  me  and 
asked  to  be  taken  to  Watts'  studio.  She  was  handsome  and 
in  the  gay  world,  and  I  took  her  in.  But  she  talked  in  a 
manner  which  bored  Watts,  so  presently,  rubbing  his  hand 
over  his  forehead,  without  further  warning,  he  said,  "  It  is 
hot  here !  I  shall  go  for  a  walk,  and  promptly  went  out, 
leaving  us  in  possession  of  his  studio. 

I  had  so  often  heard  Watts  express  the  intention  of 
giving  the  best  of  his  life's  work  to  his  nation,  that  it  came 
as  a  surprise  to  hear  one  day  from  an  acquaintance  who 
was  calling  on  me  that  he  would,  in  all  probability,  leave  all 
his  pictures  to  a  person  in  whom  he  was  greatly  interested. 
This  led  me  to  suggest  to  Watts  in  the  summer  of  1878  that 
he  should  give  those  pictures  he  intended  to  be  public  pos- 
sessions during  his  lifetime.  He  fell  in  with  the  idea,  and 
decided  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  present  at  once  certain 
of  his  works  to  the  nation.  He  spoke  to  a  friend  of  his, 
a  peer,  who  mentioned  it,  I  believe,  in  the  House  of  Lords. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  79 

A  difficulty  arose,  which  I  think  could  only  arise  in  Eng- 
land, namely,  there  appeared  to  be  no  "nation"  to  give  the 
pictures  to !  The  Tate  Gallery  was  not  then  in  existence, 
the  National  Gallery  only  received  the  works  of  deceased 
artists.  The  South  Kensington  Museum  hardly  met  Watts' 
views  as  a  suitable  permanent  home  for  such  works  as  he 
wished  to  give.  At  last  a  temporary  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty was  met  by  certain  pictures  being  lent  to  the  South 
Kensington  Museum.  Eventually,  as  is  well  known,  the 
imaginative  symbolic  works  found  a  suitable  place  in  the 
Tate  Gallery,  and  the  portraits  in  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery.^ 

In  the  winter  of  1878,  when  in  the  country,  I  was  seized 
with  a  desire  to  write  an  article.  I  wrote  it,  and  called  it, 
"Is  a  Great  School  of  Art  Possible  in  the  Present  Day?" 
It  was  my  first  piece  of  serious  writing,  and  it  was  to  appear 
in  the  Nineteenth  Ce^itury.  On  returning  to  London  I  read  it 
to  Watts  from  the  printed  proof.  He  had  not  known  I  was 
writing,  and  was  much  surprised,  even  excited,  expressing 

1  Before  this  took  place,  however,  a  curious  little  incident  occurred.  Sir 
William  Gregory,  a  friend  of  ours,  called  in  the  summer  of  1888  to  ask  me  to 
arrange  the  following  matter  with  Watts.  If  he  had  not  already  left  the  pictures  in 
his  will  to  the  National  Gallery,  would  he  add  a  codicil  doing  so  before  the  follow- 
ing November  ?  Sir  William  Gregory  was  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  National 
Gallery.  The  Council  was  constantly  having  to  face  a  painful  situation.  The 
widows  of  artists  would  present  their  husbands'  works  to  the  Gallery,  and  space 
being  very  limited,  it  was  difficult  to  accept  them  even  if  they  were  good.  It 
was,  however,  very  painful  to  refuse  any  such  gifts  at  a  time  when  the  widows 
of  the  artists  were  particularly  sensitive  as  to  the  value  of  their  husbands'  pictures. 
A  rule,  therefore,  was  being  made  that  no  works  should  be  accepted  till  twelve 
years  had  elapsed  after  the  painter's  death.  It  was  suggested,  however,  that  some 
means  should  be  invented  in  order  to  secure  at  his  death  the  works  which  Watts 
intended  to  give  to  the  nation.  The  new  rule  was,  therefore,  not  to  come  into 
action  for  six  months,  during  which  time  Watts  was  to  be  asked  to  add  a  codicil 
to  his  will,  which  I  believe  he  did.  The  Tate  Gallery  and  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery  were  subsequently  built,  and  thereby  all  these  difficulties  were  solved 
satisfactorilv. 


8o         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

much  delight.  From  that  time  Watts  began  to  write  him- 
self. He  would  put  down  any  idea  that  came  into  his 
mind  on  any  little  scrap  of  paper  he  could  lay  his  hand  on 
at  the  moment,  often  giving  me  them  at  the  end  of  the  day 
to  read  aloud  to  him.  They  were  generally  thoughts  and 
ideas  which  had  arisen  out  of  conversations  we  had  had  on 
the  previous  evening,  or  from  matters  he  had  read  in  books 
or  in  the  newspapers.  Art,  manners,  dress,  every  kind  of 
subject  formed  the  text  of  these  written  thoughts.  As  I  look 
through  these  little  scraps  of  paper,  each  recording  an  idea 
and  meaning  worth  storing  in  the  memory,  I  feel  that 
nothing  recalls  as  these  do  the  Watts  of  that  day — the 
man,  teacher,  and  friend — so  vividly.  Neither  letters,  nor 
touches  I  recollect  seeing  him  put  on  his  pictures,  seem 
to  be  so  much  himself  as  do  these  little  scribbles.  They 
are  more  like  his  conversation  than  are  his  letters,  which, 
though  often  profoundly  interesting,  flavour  at  times  of  essay 
writing.  I  suggested  to  Watts  to  gather  together  some  of 
the  scraps,  and  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  them  in  an 
article.  The  editor  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  would  cer- 
tainly, I  told  him,  be  pleased  to  have  anything  from  his 
pen.  One  morning,  unexpectedly,  a  bundle  of  them  came 
in.  He  had  suddenly  made  up  his  mind  to  carry  out  this 
suggestion.  With  the  bundle  came  a  note  asking  me  if, 
when  I  had  nothing  better  to  do,  I  would  put  the  "  wretched 
scribbles"  together  and  make  an  article  of  them.  "My 
vanity,"  he  writes,  "prompts  me  again  to  offer  excuses,  but 
I  think  of  Marcus  Aurelius  and  abstain. — Signor."  I  found 
it  very  interesting  to  re-read  the  scraps — a  lengthy  process, 
however,  to  piece  them  together  into  an  article.  The  sent- 
ences were  all  written  with  no  reference  one  to  the  other, 
and  many  stopped  short  of  an  ending.  However,  I  did 
my  best,  and   at   last   a   consecutive  piece  of  writing  was 


s 


r4  -^i'3  i 


45^ 


.^ 


i 


!• 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  8i 

achieved.  But  the  difficulty  was  not  at  an  end.  Correcting 
the  proofs  was  a  serious  matter.  Watts'  mind  was  so  active 
when  once  en  train  that  every  idea  he  had  written  started 
others.  The  additions  he  would  have  made  were  countless. 
"  Pity  for  the  printer ! "  I  would  exclaim.  After  several 
proofs  and  revises  were  discussed  and  corrected  the  last 
was  sent  off,  and  came  out  in  the  February  number  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  1880,  under  the  title  "The  Present 
Conditions  of  Art."  It  was  a  pity  that  more  of  these 
pithful  scraps  were  not  published,  as  they  embody  the 
thoughts  which  came  to  Watts  as  events  occurred,  or  as 
his  own  work  suggested  them  day  by  day.  Having  ever 
the  sense  of  pressure,  and  the  dread  of  losing  any  moment 
of  time  and  light  when  he  could  carry  out  his  chief  aim 
in  life,  his  mind  did  not  long  retain  any  of  those  ideas 
which  arose  merely  from  passing  events.  One  curious  sign 
of  Watts'  mind  being  shut  off  and  detached  from  all  other 
interests  while  labouring  at  his  art,  and  consequently  vague 
as  to  the  real  origin  of  many  of  his  ideas,  was  that  I  would 
often  express  a  thought  or  idea  on  a  subject,  or  reason 
out  some  question  with  him,  and  the  very  next  day  perhaps 
he  would  repeat  the  exact  words  I  had  used,  in  no  way 
conscious  that  he  was  repeating,  but  thinking  he  was  telling 
me  something  quite  new  and  original.  Another  friend  of 
his  told  me  that  she  had  noticed  precisely  the  same  curious 
lapse  of  memory  when  conversing  with  Watts.  Something 
analogous  to  this  has  occurred  respecting  his  designs.  He 
has  repeated  more  than  once  the  main  features  of  a  design 
made  by  another,  without,  I  fancy,  being  fully  conscious  of 
having-  done  so.  The  most  obvious  case  of  this  was  when 
he  painted  a  picture,  the  design  of  which  was  in  all  essentials 
the  same  as  that  of  a  little  sketch  I  had  given  him,  painted 
by  a  Frenchman  on  the  panel  of  a  cigar-box.     For  many 

F 


82         REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

years  he  kept  it  always  on  the  mantel-shelf  in  his  sitting- 
room.  Later  it  was  moved  ;  but  probably  the  design  had 
stamped  itself  somewhere  in  his  brain,  and  when  he  was 
painting  his  picture  he  repeated  it  without  precisely  knowing 
where  it  came  from.  He  took  great  interest  in  the  working 
of  his  own  mind/  and  would  become  so  much  engrossed 
in  the  idea  which  stimulated  the  painting  of  his  subjects, 
that  the  design  probably  became  a  minor  consideration. 
He  was  after  something  beyond  the  simple  pictorial  quality 
in  the  work.  He  would  say,  "  As  regards  ideas  and 
intentions  I  cede  to  none,  but  further  than  that  I  can't 
claim  any  advantage — every  one  seems  to  me  to  do  better 
work  than  I  can."  His  distaste  for  working  from  models 
was  great  as  a  rule.  They  could  help  him  but  little  in  the 
chief  aims  of  his  work,  and  their  presence  in  his  studio 
disturbed  the  solitude  which  conduced,  he  thought,  to  the 
best  developement  of  his  ideas.  At  one  time  he  took  the 
bell  off  his  studio  door  during  working  hours,  so  that  it 
was  impossible  that  he  should  be  disturbed.  Solitude  may 
have  been  necessary  to  Watts,  but  his  not  working  more 
from  models  had  its  drawbacks.  The  direct  study  from 
nature  must  always  enrich  the  soil  in  which  intentions  in 
art  pure  and  simple  are  grown.  Watts,  from  his  dislike 
of  having  models — the  mere  arranging  for  them  to  come 
fussed  him  greatly — fell  back  perhaps  too  exclusively  on 
his  knowledge.  It  was  certainly  as  easy  for  Watts  to 
make  an  original  design  as  to  adapt  one  made  by  another ; 
it  was  probably  so  easy  that  he  evidently  thought  it  of 
small  importance  which  of  the  two  he  did,  the  point  of 
true  interest  to  him  being  to  transmit  through  the  language 

1  Walter  Bagehot  would  say,  "  If  you  have  a  mind  to  play  with,  it's  so  much 
the  best  game,  you  need  have  no  other."  Certainly  Watts  had  plenty  of  that  game 
at  his  command. 


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OUR   FRIENDSHIP  83 

of  art  his  own  ideas  and  feelings.  When  with  me,  however, 
he  most  persistently  denied  his  right  as  an  artist  to  claim 
any  ''originality."  He  would  talk  very  interestingly  on 
the  subject  of  originality.  "There  is  no  such  thing,  really, 
as  originality,"  he  would  maintain.  "  How  can  the  human 
mind  conceive  anything  absolutely  new !  The  ideas  of 
Heaven  and  Hell,  and  of  all  things  conceived  by  the  human 
imagination  and  not  actually  seen,  are  nevertheless  based 
on  human  experience.  To  create  what  is  called  original 
art,  is  merely  the  power  to  seize,  remember,  and  combine 
such  experiences,  and  to  put  them  into  a  form,  stamping 
them  doubtless  with  strong  personal  preferences  and  feel- 
ings ;  but  the  form  such  art  takes  cannot  be  really  new,  it 
must  always  be  a  reflection  and  combination  of  something 
that  has  been  seen  or  felt  or  heard.  The  combination 
may  be  a  new  one,  but  the  ingredients  are  old."  He 
would  say  that  the  history  of  the  world's  art  was  like 
a  chain,  each  link  depending  on  the  previous  links  for  its 
place  in  the  onward  progress.  Greece,  even,  though  she 
rose  to  such  unparalleled  heights  in  the  developement  of 
the  sense  of  beauty,  grew  out  of  Egypt.  It  was  this 
particular  "link,"  which  Watts  illustrated  in  one  of  his 
wall  paintings,^  which  recalls  so  distinctly  the  design  of  the 
group  of  "The  Fates"  from  the  Parthenon  pediment,  where 
the  reclining  figure  of  Greece  is  leaning  against  the  other 
representing  Egypt.  Had  Watts  had  a  more  retentive 
memory  for  other  matters  besides  his  art,  he  might,  I  am 
convinced,  have  written  that  which  would  have  been  of 
value  on  many  subjects.  His  memory,  he  thought,  had 
been  injured  by  the  terrible  headaches  which  had  been  his 
scourge  for  so  many  years.  In  many  letters  he  regretted 
his  inability  to  put  in  writing  things  he  was  burning  to  say. 

*  See  illustration. 


84         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

When  the  impetus  of  excitement  was  created  by  any  subject 
that  touched  him  very  poignantly,  Watts  could  write  with 
extraordinary  point  and  vigour,  but  as  soon  as  the  moment 
passed  he  relaxed  into  more  or  less  vagueness  of  thought,  only 
holding  the  principle  of  the  matter  firmly  and  permanently — 
in  other  words,  his  thoughts  again  completely  centred  them- 
selves in  his  own  work.  The  "  wretched  scribbles,"  as  he 
called  them,  are  so  valuable  on  account  of  their  being  the 
spontaneous  expression  caught  in  writing  when  his  thought 
was  vividly  alive  to  any  interesting  subject.  One  day  he 
gave  me  a  short  poem  he  had  written.  His  Blanche  had 
married,  and  was  about  to  become  a  mother,  and  the  lines 
question  what  news  the  wind  would  bring  with  it. 

He  took  the  kindest  interest  in  everything  I  wrote,  always 
inciting  me  to  write  more.  My  article  on  Millais,  "Why  is 
Millais  our  Popular  Painter  ?"  ^  appeared  a  year  or  two  after 
the  Nineteenth  Century  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review, 
Mr.  John  Morley  being  then  the  editor.  Watts  was  not  well, 
and  obliged  to  keep  his  room.  He  writes,  on  reading  the  proofs: 
"  I  think  your  article  quite  excellent,  and  can  criticise  nothing, 
unless  that  it  might  appear  to  some  you  unduly  depreciate 
Millais  ;  still,  you  are  no  doubt  right  in  the  direction  of  your 
remarks,  and  Millais  can  certainly  afford  the  expense.  Hang 
the  pen  !  This  seems  to  me  to  be  quite  one  of  the  best  things 
you  have  written.     I  hope  it  will  be  put  in  without  change." 

Another  article  of  mine^  appeared  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  somewhat  later,  "  The  Painted  Poetry  of  Watts 
and  Rossetti,"  which  he  also  said  he  liked. 

In  1895  I  was  asked  to  republish  the  several  articles 
I  had  written  in  the  Nijieteenth  Century,  the  Fortnightly, 
Spectator,  and  other  periodicals.  They  appeared  under  the 
title  of  "A  Retrospect,"  in  1896,  the  name  of  a  fresh  article 

1  Reprinted  in  "  A  Retrospect."  "-  Ibid. 


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OUR    FRIENDSHIP  85 

which  formed  a  preface  to  the  previous  writings.  Watts 
writes  he  shall  read  the  book,  "Retrospect,"  "with  intense 
interest ;  a  great  and  beautiful  subject."  Having  read  it, 
he  writes :  "Your  'Retrospect'  is  excellent!  Perhaps  you 
might  have  said  something  more  about  that  sincere,  earnest, 
and  intellectual  worker,  Holman  Hunt." 

It  was  chiefly  during  the  winter  months  that  the  reading 
and  discussions  on  the  writing  took  place.     In  the  summer, 
when  we  went  in  about  six  o'clock,  we  used  to  find  Watts 
still  painting  in  the  large  studio,  still  walking  backwards  and 
forwards  between  his  easel  and  the  large  looking-glass  which 
doubled  the  length  of  his   space  for  him  between  the  glass 
and  the  canvass.     This  looking  at  his  work  from  as  great 
a  distance  as  possible,  was  a  manner  of  working  which  Sir 
Joshua    Reynolds    pursued,  and    that    Watts    found    greatly 
helped   him   in   obtaining  the  quality   he   viewed  as  all-im- 
portant— breadth.     In  these  summer  evenings  I  would  watch 
him  put  on  touches  which   I  did  not   always   quite   follow  ; 
but  gradually  the  form  would  consolidate,  as  it  were,  under 
the   seemingly    vague  indefinite  strokes,  and  the  modelling 
giving   the    fine   form,    truly    Pheidian    in    character,   would 
emerge.       I    remember    being     particularly    struck    by    this 
while  he  was  painting  on  the  figures  in  "  Love  and  Life." 
I  realised  then  the  immense  amount  of  knowledge  he  must 
have  had,  the  expression  of  which  lay  under  that  bloom  of 
atmosphere,    a    quality    in    his    work   without    which  Watts 
would  never  rest   content.       If  his    painting   had   a  hint  of 
tightness,    or    was    too    defined    to    allow   of   the    sense    of 
atmosphere,  he    would,   as    soon    as    it  was  dry,  scumble  a 
film  of  white  paint  over   it ;    when   that  again   was  dry,  he 
retouched  it  with  colour.     He  advised  me  to  do  the  same, 
but  knowing  it  produces  rather  a  shock  after  nearly  finish- 
ing a  painting,  to  see  it  very  nearly  obliterated,  he  would 


86         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.  WATTS 

break  it  to  me  gently.  He  would  say,  "  If  it  were  mine, 
I  think  I  would  scumble  it  over  with  white.  Have  you 
the  courage  ?  "  The  copy  I  made  of  his  portrait  of  Mrs, 
Langtry  remains  to  this  day  with  its  obliterating  scumble 
of  white  over  it!  It  was  some  time  in  the  year  1879  that 
Leis:hton  lent  us  his  volume  of  Boschini  in  which  is  described 
Titian's  method  of  painting.  I  translated  it  to  quote  in  the 
article  I  wrote  for  the  Fortnightly  Review  entitled,  "  Why 
is  Millais  our  Popular  Painter?"  I  used  it  also,  with  Watts' 
approval,  to  describe  his  method  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
American  Exhibition.  I  read  it  to  Watts  in  1879,  and  from 
that  time  he  definitely  adopted  Titian's  method,  finding  that 
by  its  means  he  could  work  on  a  canvass  for  years  and  yet 
retain  the  same  quality  of  clean  fervour  and  freshness  in  the 
colour  which  you  get  in  a  first  sketch.  The  first  picture 
which  he  painted  after  reading  this  account  of  Titian's  method 
was  his  own  portrait,  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery  at  Florence. 
I  watched  him  working  on  this.  He  used  two  looking- 
glasses  to  get  the  profile  of  his  face.  The  attitude  of  the  head 
is,  in  consequence,  I  think,  somewhat  strained.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  translation  from  Boschini  of  Titian's  method: — 

"  In  truth,  Titian  is  the  best  of  those  who  have  painted. 
Giacomo  Palma  the  Young  (so  named  to  distinguish  him 
from  Giacomo  Palma  il  Vecchio)  told  me  he  had  had  the 
good  fortune  to  enjoy  the  wise  precepts  of  Titian.  That 
he  (Titian)  smothered  his  canvasses  with  a  mass  of  colour 
that  made,  so  to  speak,  a  bed  or  base  for  the  touches  which 
he  painted  over  it.  And  I  also  have  seen  him — with  reso- 
lute strokes  and  brushes  full  of  colour,  filling  the  same 
brush  sometimes  with  light  red  to  serve  as  a  half-tint, 
sometimes  with  white,  rose,  black,  or  yellow — produce,  with 
his  amount  of  knowledge,  in  four  dashes  of  the  brush,  the 
promise  of  a  rare  figure.       In  all  cases  such  sketches  of  his 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  87 

were  admired  by  many  who  travelled  from  far  to  see  the 
best  manner  in  which  to  enter  into  the  Pelago  della  Pittura. 
After  having  made  these  precious  foundations  for  his  pictures 
he  turned  the  canvasses  to  the  wall,  and  there  he  left  them 
some  months  without  looking  at  them.  When  he  wished 
to  paint  on  them  again  he  first  examined  them  with  a  very 
critical  observation,  as  if  they  were  his  worst  enemies,  to 
see  what  defects  he  could  find  in  them,  and  if  he  found  any- 
thing which  was  discordant  with  the  delicacy  of  the  intention 
of  his  art,  as  a  beneficent  surgeon  operates  on  the  infirm, 
he  applied  himself  to  reduce  any  swelling  or  superabundance 
of  flesh,  or  to  putting  right  an  arm  if  the  form  of  the  bony 
structure  was  not  properly  adjusted,  or  putting  in  its  place 
a  foot  that  had  taken  a  discordant  posture,  and  so  on,  with- 
out pity  for  its  pain.  Working  in  this  way  he  constructed 
the  figure,  and  reduced  it  to  the  most  perfect  symmetry  that 
could  represent  the  beauty  of  nature  and  of  art.  Having 
done  this,  he  turned  his  hand  to  other  work  until  the  first 
was  dry,  and  repeated  the  same  process  on  other  pictures. 
And  so  he  worked  from  time  to  time  on  them  till  he  covered 
his  figures,  as  it  were,  with  live  flesh,  perfecting  with  such 
wonderful  touches  that  at  last  only  the  breath  seemed 
wanting.  He  never  did  a  figure  at  once  {alia  prima),  and 
used  to  say  that  any  one  who  improvised  {che  chi  canta  all' 
improvviso)  could  never  make  verses  that  were  profound  or 
really  well  put  together.  The  essence  of  the  finish,  of  the 
last  touches,  he  put  on  from  time  to  time  with  rubs  of  his 
fingers  in  the  high  lights  approximating  them  {avvicinandosi 
alle  mezz-e  tinie\  blending  one  tint  with  another,  and  again 
with  a  touch  of  the  finger  putting  in  a  dark  stroke  in  some 
angle  to  enforce  it,  or  a  touch  of  rose,  like  a  drop  of  blood 
that  seems  to  give  life  to  the  surface,  the  touches  creeping 
on  gradually,  and  so  perfecting  his  animated  figures.     And 


88         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Palma  attested  the  fact  that  in  finishing    he    painted  more 
with  the  finger  than  with  the  brush." 

I  would  try  to  interest  Watts  in  the  models  who  sat  for 
me,  and  he  would  often  express  a  desire  to  paint  from 
them,  but  he  could  never  make  use  of  a  model  for  at  most 
more  than  a  few  hours  together,  and  many  of  the  best 
models  could  only  be  engaged  for  the  whole  day.  In  the 
case  of  Dorothy  Dene,  the  model  for  "  Uldra,"  "  The  rain 
it  raineth  every  day,"  and  others  who  sat  to  me,  I  arranged  to 
take  the  morning  hours,  and  after  luncheon  send  the  model 
in  to  Watts.  We  often  discussed  the  particular  character 
of  form  and  the  colour  in  these  models  during  the  evening 
whilst  they  were  fresh  in  our  memories.  Perhaps  I  should 
have  never  so  fully  realised  Watts'  instinctive  power  of 
seizing  subtle  character  in  form  and  texture  had  I  not 
struggled  to  paint  from  the  same  model  on  the  same  day 
as  he  had.  In  the  case  of  Dorothy  Dene,  I  had  worked 
from  her  some  time  before  Watts  painted  from  her.  Her 
colour  was  very  exceptional,  and  I  had  in  vain  tried  to  sug- 
gest It  truly.  A  clouded  pallor,  with  a  hint  somewhere  of  a 
lovely  shell-like  pink,  but  such  a  mere  hint,  it  was  difficult 
to  localise  it  in  the  very  even  smooth  texture  of  the  surface. 
It  seemed  under  the  skin,  as  colour  lies  under  the  smooth 
surface  of  the  inside  of  a  shell.  Leighton,  who  worked 
so  much  from  this  model,  and  who  in  the  first  place  had 
asked  me  to  give  her  sittings,  knew  well  that  he  never 
succeeded  in  getting  this  particular  texture  and  colour.  He 
got  much  else  from  Dorothy  Dene  in  the  way  of  dramatic 
expression  and  gesture,  and  for  these  qualities  he  mainly 
worked  from  her,  but,  as  far  as  likeness  went,  he  always 
maintained  that  he  had  failed  to  satisfy  himself.  No  other 
model  had  he  found  so  tantalisingly  difficult  to  paint  from. 
Watts,  in  a  couple  of  hours,  produced  a  head  of  Dorothy 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  89 

Dene  which  was,  as  a  mere  portrait  of  her,  more  like  than 
any  Leighton  ever  achieved.  It  was  marvellous  how,  in 
the  time,  he  reproduced  in  paint  the  extraordinarily  subtle 
and  exceptional  texture  and  colour  of  her  complexion. 

He  told  me  that,  though  he  might  develope  a  design, 
he  never  altered  it.  In  his  work  his  memory  never  failed 
him.  He  might  leave  a  canvass  untouched  for  years,  but  the 
intention  and  design  of  the  picture,  as  first  conceived,  was 
never  altered.  He  could  always  go  back  on  it,  and  pick 
it  up  just  where  he  left  it.  Also  with  a  subject  imagined 
and  thought  out  but  not  put  on  canvass.  Without  any 
tangible  record,  it  was  ever  there  somewhere  in  his  brain, 
ready  to  be  begun.  He  might  change  the  name  of  a  picture, 
which  in  many  cases  he  did,  but  the  pictorial  creation,  he 
told  me,  ever  remained  as  he  had  at  first  conceived  it. 

In  1880  he  discussed  with  us  the  necessity  of  building 
a  gallery  to  hold  all  the  pictures,  finished  and  unfinished, 
which  were  piled  in  his  studio,  one  upon  another.  I  most 
strongly  advised  him  to  do  so.  He  could  count  on  his  five 
fingers,  he  said,  the  pictures,  other  than  portraits,  which  he 
had  sold,  and  even  those  were  sold  to  personal  friends  for 
a  nominal  price.  His  strong  conviction  was  that  no  wide 
public  would  ever  care  for  his  subject  pictures,  much  less 
buy  them  ;  but  he  wished  them  to  be  seen  properly  by  any 
who  might,  like  ourselves,  sympathise  with  his  aims.  Mr. 
George  Aitcheson,  R.A.,  undertook  the  building  of  the 
gallery,  Mr.  Cockerell,  the  architect  who  had  built  Watts' 
house,  having  died.  Before  it  was  commenced,  however,  a 
hitch  occurred  which  made  Watts  nervous.  He  feared  he 
might  have  to  relinquish  the  idea.  Mr.  Harrington  told 
him  he  thought  he  could  arrange  it  for  him,  more  especially  as 
we  were  the  only  neighbours  who  could  have  had  any  occasion 
to  object,  as  the  gallery  built  out  some  of  our  air  space ;  but 


90         REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

our  desire  that  the  public  should  be  enabled  to  view  Watts' 
pictures,  naturally  outweighed  any  personal  considerations. 

Canon  and  Mrs.  Barnett  being  friends  of  ours,  we  were 
greatly  interested  in  the  first  exhibition  of  pictures  in  White- 
chapel,  which  took  place  in  1881.  We  talked  of  it  to 
Watts,  and  he  also  entered  into  the  scheme,  lending  us 
pictures  for  it  and  for  the  subsequent  exhibitions  which  took 
place  every  spring ;  Leighton  did  the  same.  These  exhibi- 
tions, and  the  opening  of  the  gallery  to  the  public,  realised 
ideas  which  had  hitherto  lain  somewhat  latent  in  Watts' 
mind,  but  which  were  intimately  connected  with  the  most 
earnest  aims  in  his  own  art.  Where  definite  action  was 
necessary — beyond  the  immediate  concerns  of  his  own  studio 
— Watts  required  the  aid  of  others.  He  had  neither  the 
time  nor  the  power  of  transferring  his  thoughts  easily  into 
channels  other  than  those  directly  pertaining  to  his  art, 
necessary  for  acting  by  himself  in  such  schemes  as  those  we 
had  at  heart,  such  as  the  Whitechapel  Exhibitions,  but  he 
gave  the  most  sympathetic  encouragement  to  such  move- 
ments, and,  so  far  as  he  could  do  so,  helped  us  in  every 
possible  manner.  Parties  of  teachers  and  poor  people  would 
come  from  Whitechapel  and  other  places  to  be  entertained 
by  us  in  our  garden,  the  object  being  to  take  them  into 
Leighton's  and  Watts'  studios,  and  by  trying  to  awaken  in 
their  minds  a  real  interest  in  art  and  beauty,  inspire  in  our 
friends  a  sense  of  enjoyment  in  those  things  which  aroused 
a  great  feeling  of  delight  in  ourselves.  "What  is  worth 
having  is  worth  sharing."  Both  artists  keenly  entered  into 
the  spirit  of  these  entertainments.  I  have  a  clear  vision 
now  of  a  scene  in  the  gallery  when,  after  listening  to  songs 
and  recitals  from  the  guests,  we  ended  by  singing  "  Auld 
Lang  Syne,"  Watts  eagerly  joining  in  and  making  part  of 
the  circle  of  joined    hands.      Never,    I   think,  could  a  more 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  91 

complete  expression  have  been  given  to  that  particular  vein 
of  enlightened  philanthropy  which  includes  the  foremost 
thought  of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
earnest  broad  religious  sympathies  of  Ruskin,  Browning, 
Tennyson,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  and  other  deep 
thinkers  in  that  line,  than  by  these  gatherings,  instigated 
in  the  first  instance  by  Canon  and  Mrs.  Barnett,  and  carried 
out  with  the  help  of  Leighton  and  Watts.  When  the  func- 
tion culminated  by  a  closing  scene  in  the  gallery.  Watts 
appeared  more  completely  happy  and  contented  than  I  have 
ever  seen  him.  He  was  impressed  by  the  feeling  that  his 
highest  aims  had  found  an  harmonious  response  in  real  life, 
and  an  inner  chord  had  been  sounded  in  himself  which  had 
not  hitherto  been  struck.  There,  crowded  together,  were 
a  number  of  poor  people,  living  habitually  with  nothing  but 
the  most  squalid  ugliness  in  their  surroundings,  looking  with 
eager  eyes  at  the  visions  of  his  creation,  and  listening  most 
earnestly  to  the  explanation  of  the  ideas  and  meanings  in 
them.  The  art  which  to  many  among  the  richer  classes 
was  bat  a  source  of  aesthetic  culture,  gave  to  these  visitors 
an  inlet  to  a  world  of  visionary  beauty  and  noble  thought 
which  they  might  all  inhabit,  however  poor  and  miserable 
they  might  be.  They  were  offered  food  for  their  spirits, 
which  was  above  mere  culture  and  education  ;  food  which, 
like  Christian  teaching,  established  a  common  ground  for  all 
humanity  to  meet  on. 

The  very  best  in  art  for  all — that  was  the  text  of  Leigh- 
ton's  and  Watts'  efforts.  Watts  once  recounted  to  me  how 
he  had  long  suffered  under  a  sense  of  injury,  and  that  when 
walking  along  the  street  one  day  he  was  suddenly  seized  by  a 
passionate  desire  to  do  something  for  humanity  ;  a  great  sym- 
pathy with  human  suffering  seemed  to  be  awakened  in  him, 
and,  with  the  longing  to  alleviate  it,  he  became  conscious  that 


92         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

the  heavy  load  he  had  borne  was  lifted  off,  and  that  he  was 
freed  from  the  pain  of  all  feeling  of  injury  and  resentment.^ 

Among  the  pictures  in  the  gallery  which  looked  down 
on  these  parties  from  Whitechapel,  was  the  group  of  tragic 
subjects,  "The  Song  of  the  Shirt,"  "Under  a  Dry  Arch- 
way," "  Found  Drowned,"  the  "  Irish  Peasants  during  the 
Famine,"  each  telling  its  sad  story  with  dramatic  force. 
These  embodied  the  real  and  deep  sympathy  Watts  felt 
for  human  suffering,  and  conveyed  to  some  of  our  humble 
visitors  a  direct  meaning,  touching  many  who  did  not  under- 
stand his  more  symbolic  expressions. 

It  was  during  those  years  of  later  middle  life,  when 
Watts  was  between  fifty-five  and  seventy  years  old,  that  he 
virtually  painted  the  most  important  works  which  he  called 
his  "Anthems,"  though  the  designs  of  these  pictures  had 
been  previously  conceived.  In  1876,  when  I  first  saw  them 
in  his  studio,  "Time,  Death,  and  Judgment,"  "Love  and 
Death,"  "The  Court  of  Death,"  "The  Newly-Created 
Eve,"  "Eve  Tempted,"  and  "Eve  Repentant,"  and  "To 
All  Churches,"  were  but  sketches  in  colour  on  the  can- 
vasses. The  pictures  which  were  finished  when  the  gallery 
was  ready  to  hold  them,  and  which  he  never  retouched,  were 
"  Echo,"  "  The  Dray  Horses,"  "Ganymede,"  "  The  Prodigal," 
"  Satan  going  to  and  fro  on  the  Earth,  seeking  whom  he 
may  devour,"  "The  Good  Samaritan,"  "Esau,"  "Jacob 
and  Esau,"  the  beautiful  portrait  group  of  the  Ladies  Talbot, 
who  afterwards  become  Lady  Brownlow,  Lady  Lothian, 
and  Lady  Pembroke,  Dr.  Joachim,  and  many  other  portraits. 
Among  those  that  were  well  advanced,  but  on  which  he  after- 
wards worked  more  or  less,  were  "Paolo  and  Francesca," 
"Orpheus     and     Eurydice,"     "Britomart,"     "The     Carrara 

'  The  song  set  to  Longfellow's  poem,  "  The  Bridge,"  was   a  great  favourite 
of  Watts  in  those  days. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  93 

Mountains,"  "  Lady  Godiva,"  "  The  Nurture  of  Jupiter " 
(virtually  finished  at  that  time,  but  afterwards  named  "The 
Childhood  of  Zeus,"  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy 
Exhibition  in  1896,  the  Zeus  being  the  portrait  of  the  same 
Greek  child  who  sat  for  the  beautiful  head  of  "  Ganymede"), 
**Fata  Morgana,"  "Mischief,"  "Ariadne,"  "Europa,"  "Chaos," 
"A  Condottiere,"  and  "The  Rider  on  the  White  Horse," 
"  Charity."  The  most  important  of  Watts'  pictures  which  were 
begun  and  finished  between  the  years  1877  and  1886,  and 
which  I  therefore  saw  in  every  stage  of  their  execution,  in- 
cluded "  Psyche"  (bought  by  the  Chantrey  Bequest  from  the 
Grosvenor  Gallery  Exhibition  of  Watts'  works),  "Love  and 
Life,"  "The  Idle  Child  of  Fancy"  (first  named  "Cupid"), 
'*The  Genius  of  Greek  Poetry,"  "When  Poverty  comes  in  at 
the  Door,  Love  flies  out  of  the  Window,"  "Thetis,"  "The 
Three  Goddesses,"  "The  First  Oyster-eater,"  "Mammon,"  "A 
Reverie,"  "Brynhildr,"  "The  Wife  of  Plutus,"  "Hope,"  "The 
Minotaur,"  "  The  Messenger  of  Death,"  and  many  portraits. 

Titian's  method  of  painting,  described  by  Boschini,  en- 
abled Watts  to  elaborate  and  enrich  the  scheme  of  colour, 
also  to  add  variety  and  effect  to  the  texture  in  his  work ;  but, 
as  I  have  said  before,  though  he  worked  for  years  on  some 
of  his  pictures,  all  his  designs  remained  absolutely  the  same 
as  when  first  sketched  on  to  the  canvasses. 

On  summer  evenings  he  would  ask  me  to  play  to  him  on 
the  pianoforte.  He  liked  simple  tunes,  especially  airs  by 
Beethoven  and  Handel.  The  rays  of  the  warm  evening 
light  would  come  in  through  the  high  studio  window,  striking 
down  on  the  paintings.  As  golden  shafts  from  the  setting 
sun  lighted  on  the  canvasses  placed  on  easels  towards  the 
light,  how  gloriously  would  the  autumn-like  tints  burn  out 
in  fervent  colour.  With  a  passionate  depth  they  glowed  in 
harmony  with  the  music  of  the  masters.     Watts  was  indeed 


94         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

right  in  calling-  them  his  "Anthems."  That  so  fragile  a 
presence  could  contain  in  it  the  power  to  create  such  things ! 
On  most  evenings,  after  I  had  played  a  little  while,  he  would 
put  down  his  palette  and  brushes  and  say,  "Let  us  have 
a  song.  It  is  good  for  the  health.  It  expands  the  chest." 
His  favourites  were  Dibdin's  "Tom  Bowling,"  "The  Banks 
of  Allan  Water,"  "  The  Vicar  of  Bray,"  "  Sally  in  our  Alley," 
"Tell  me,  my  Heart,"  and  many  others  of  Bishop's  songs. 
The  elaborate  cadenzas  in  these  last  he  achieved  with 
astonishing  ease  and  precision  considering  his  age  and  the 
fact  that  he  had  not  practised  for  years. 

W^atts  really  loved  music.  I  remember  once  finding  him 
resting  on  his  sofa  in  his  little  sitting-room  after  his  midday 
meal,  when  he  told  me  he  had  just  been  hearing  in  his  head 
combinations  of  instruments — "orchestral  effects."  He  went 
on  to  say  he  thought  he  ought  to  have  been  a  musician 
instead  of  a  painter.  He  heard  melodies  and  harmonies 
without  conscious  thought,  whereas  only  one  picture  had 
ever  come  to  him  as  a  vision.  All  the  rest  had  been  built 
up  from  ideas  worked  out  in  his  brain.  Thought  led  the 
way,  and  directed  any  artistic  expression  of  which  he  was 
capable.  The  one  exception  had  been,  "Time,  Death,  and 
Judgment."  That  had  come  before  his  inner  sight  as  a 
picture,  and  he  had  at  once  hastily  seized  his  chalk  and 
drawn  the  design  in  from  his  vision.  Those  people,  he 
contended,  who  were  meant  by  nature  to  be  painters  and 
designers,  worked  mostly  from  the  pictures  revealed  to  their 
inner  sight.  He  mentioned  the  names  of  those  he  knew 
who  had  this  gift,  and  cited  Burne-Jones  as  one.  He 
(Watts)  had  revelations  in  sound,  and  hence  he  argued  that 
he  ought  to  have  been  a  musician  rather  than  a  painter. 
Mr.  Barrington  also  remembers  Watts  discussing  this  subject 
with   him,  and   Watts  saying  how   strange   it   was   that   he 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  95 

never  saw  a  picture  as  a  picture  even  while  in  process  of 
painting.  He  could  feel  no  interest  whatever  in  the  ordinary 
art  of  "picture-making."  In  a  letter  he  wrote  March  27, 
1892,  after  saying  how  glad  he  was  I  was  giving  so  much 
attention  to  music,  he  writes  :  "It  is  a  source  of  never- 
ending  regret  to  me  that  I  did  not  make  serious  study  of 
music."  Again  :  "  I  am  glad  you  are  having  so  much  music. 
For  spiritual  inspiration  there  is  nothing  like  it."  Many  of 
the  "  scribbles  "  were  on  the  subject  of  music. 

The  science  of  photography  interested  him  greatly.  He 
thought  it  wonderful,  and  was  of  opinion  in  those  days  that 
it  ought  to  help  artists  considerably  in  seeing  nature  truly. 
I  remember  his  showing  me  a  photograph  of  a  child  he 
had  seen  in  a  shop  window,  and  had  bought  as  a  lesson. 
**  We  can't  do  anything  like  that,"  I  remember  him  saying, 
pointing  to  the  beautiful  arms  of  the  child.  They  were  as 
good,  he  said,  as  Pheidias,  and  better — so  broad,  so  simple, 
and  yet  suggesting  such  beautiful  structure  beneath  the 
bloom  of  the  surface.  Mr.  Frederick  Hollyer  would  photo- 
graph many  of  Watts*  pictures  in  every  stage.  Watts  gave 
me  one  of  "Love  and  Death"  in  an  early  stage.  He  thought 
it  gave  the  feeling  of  the  design  quite  as  much  or  more 
forcibly  than  the  finished  pictures.  I  have  hung  photographs 
of  both  together,  and  the  longer  I  live  with  them,  the  more  I 
prefer  the  unfinished  version.  Watts  would  work  on  the  actual 
photographs,  taken  from  the  pictures  at  their  various  stages. 
He  would  say  that  suggestions  struck  him  while  doing  so 
which  helped  him  to  complete  the  works.  While  at  Brighton, 
away  from  his  large  canvasses,  he  would  yet  be  able  to  ad- 
vance them  through  this  method  of  painting  in  Chinese  white 
and  Indian  ink  on  the  photographs.  He  would  write  asking 
me  to  look  at  the  touched  photographs  which  he  sent  up  from 
Brighton  to  Mr.  Hollyer  before  they  were  re-photographed. 


96         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Music  having  been  to  me  necessary  daily  food  since  I  was 
five  years  old,  when  I  composed  small  pieces  and  made 
my  elder  sisters  play  the  bass  to  my  treble,  it  proved  a 
great  bond  of  union  between  Watts  and  myself/  Though 
we  had  always  loved  Beethoven,  Mozart,  and  Handel,  we 
were  no  purists.  We  confided  to  one  another  that  often  if 
we  passed  a  street  band  that  was  playing — always  provided 
that  it  was  playing  in  tune, — there  we  did  draw  the  line, — 
that  we  would  walk  up  and  down  the  pavement  to  the  sound 
of  it.  A  Pole  named  Borschitsky,  a  clever  violinist  who  had 
taught  my  boy,  and  was  the  happy  possessor  of  a  lovely 
instrument,  an  Amati,  used  frequently  to  play  duets  with  me. 
When  we  played  in  the  daytime  Watts  would  come  in  to 
listen,  but  when  in  the  evening  he  used  to  beg  me  to  have 
the  playing,  if  possible,  in  his  studio.  He  had  adopted  a 
very  charming  little  girl  called  Blanche,  who  is  immortalised 
on  many  of  his  canvasses.  Though  she  did  not,  as  a  rule, 
live  with  him,  as  he  dreaded  her  feeling  the  life  at  Little 
Holland  House  too  dull  and  monotonous,  she  would  come 
often  to  stay  with  him  during  the  first  years  when  we 
were  neighbours.  She  and  I  became  great  friends.  Watts 
had  wished  her  to  learn  the  violin,  and  would  advise  me 
to  do  the  same.  He  himself  took  lessons  in  order  to 
encourage  her.  I  often  would  play  the  accompaniments 
on  the  piano,  and  Blanche  would  always  be  a  listener 
when  I  played  with  Borschitsky.  During  the  time  while  a 
change  of  houses  was  going  on,  two  of  her  cousins  also 
appeared.      I    see    the    charming   scenes    in    the  studio    still 

^  When  kept  by  illness  at  Brighton,  in  1882,  he  writes  :  "You  may  imagine 
what  it  is  for  me  to  lose  Leighton's  music,"  referring  to  one  of  those  delightful 
concerts  to  which  Leighton  would  ask  his  musical  friends  every  spring,  when  the 
pictures,  the  year's  work,  were  finished  for  the  Academy.  Never  was  Joachim's 
genius  enjoyed  more  enthusiastically  than  when  he  played  for  his  dear  friend  to 
their  circle  of  mutual  friends. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  97 

quite   vividly,   though    it    is    so    many  years  ago   that   they 
happened,  when  it  seemed  to  be  turned  into  a  schoolroom, 
Watts  in  the  position  of  head  pupil.      He  was  particularly 
delightful   when   with   children.      He    became   like   a   child 
himself.      The  picture  of  his  Blanche   I   see  now,  perched 
on  a  high  chair,  like  a  bright-plumaged  bird  in  gay-coloured 
cotton  pinafores,  picturesquely  made.     She  had  long  limbs 
that   moved    with    languid  grace,   a   small    head — a   beauty 
Watts  admired  greatly — a  sweet  little  round  face,  and  twink- 
ling, quizzing,  dark  eyes.     She  reigned  over  her  "Signor" 
with   a   commanding   affection.      He    was   devoted    to    her. 
The  younger  cousins  were  very  lively,  very  amusing,  and 
all   three    dared  anything  and    everything  with   Watts.       I 
think  he  liked   being  bullied  by  them,   and  never  resented 
anything    they   said.       I    remember    Blanche    bursting    out 
with,    "You  are  vain,    Signor;    you    know   you  are!"     "I 
daresay    I    am,"    Watts   answered,    quite    composed    under 
the    accusation.^      He    tried    very    hard    to    train    them    to 
look  on  their  lessons  seriously,  but  he  had  not  a  chance. 
They  were  so   bold  and  so  amusing,   he  could  not  remain 
consistent.      Appeals  to  me  were   made  to  back  them  up 
in  proving  that  Signor  was  inconsistent.     I,   of  course,  did 
nothing  of  the  kind,  but  maintained  that  whatever  Signor 
said  or  whatever  he  did  must  be  right.     One  child  became 
so  uproarious  that  the  authorities  threatened  to  send  her  to 
a  day-school.      "  The  idea,"  they  said,   "  of  screaming  like 
that  and   making  such  a  noise  before  a  nervous  man  like 
Signor!"      It  was  my   belief  that   the  lawlessness   did  the 
"  nervous  man "  a  great  deal  of  good.     To  amuse   Watts 
and  make  him  laugh  was  his  best  medicine. 

A  house  was  taken  at  Brighton,  and  then  the  reign  of 

^  Watts  was  conscious  that  vanity  was  one  of  his  failings,  and  would  often 
discourse  on  his  desire  to  rise  above  it. 


-BSPfssHKsrr 


98         REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

noisy  nonsense,  turmoil,  and  happy  tyranny  ceased,  the 
studio  returning  to  its  normal  peaceful  state,  with  occasional 
visits  from  Blanche.  Anything  less  like  the  real  Watts  of 
those  days  than  the  impressions  given  by  many  accounts 
written  of  him,  can  hardly  be  conceived.  The  stilted  figure- 
head for  the  High  Art  bark  which  these  suggest,  is  as  unlike 
the  very  human,  in  many  ways  childlike  Watts  we  remem- 
ber, as  any  suggestion  could  be.  When  first  meeting  him, 
the  charm  of  his  personality  and  a  kind  of  Celtic  mystery 
in  the  nature,  a  want  of  anything  which  appeared  definitely 
clenched  in  his  relationship  with  his  friends,  backed  by  the 
sense  of  his  genius,  would  produce  an  almost  mesmeric  effect 
on  some  ;  intimate  friendship  once  established,  however,  he 
aroused  a  very  human,  natural,  and  confiding  affection  in 
those  who  knew  him  best.  Though  of  so  very  unique  a 
nature, — a  distinct  entity,  and  holding  so  high  a  position  as 
an  artist,  as  a  human  being  he  was  nevertheless  pathetic. 
The  frailty  of  his  physique  must  have  appealed,  I  think,  to 
the  motherly  instincts  in  any  woman  friend.  He  would  sum 
himself  up  by  saying,  "  I  have  a  good  nature,  but  I  am  irrit- 
able." I  must,  however,  affirm  that  during  the  thousands  of 
hours  Mr.  Harrington  and  I  spent  with  him,  neither  of  us 
for  one  single  moment  ever  saw  him  irritable.  I  saw  him 
once,  only  once,  in  a  passion  with  a  servant.^  He  told  me 
he  had  asked  pardon  of  the  servant,  and  expressed  deep 
penitence  to  me  for  his  loss  of  self-control  when  I  saw  him  in 

1  I  was  working  in  the  iron  studio  one  morning  on  a  mask  for  the  head  of 
the  statue  "Aurora,"  which  Watts  had  asked  me  to  do  for  him.  He  was 
impatiently  awaiting  a  sheet  of  brown  paper  he  had  sent  his  servant  to  fetch 
on  which  he  wanted  to  draw  a  design.  He  came  in  and  out  of  the  iron 
studio,  troubled  that  he  should  be  losing  time.  When  the  servant  appeared. 
Watts  saw  his  sheet  of  brown  paper  tightly  folded  up  in  a  small  packet.  He 
burst  out  in  fury,  and  threw  the  little  parcel  back  at  the  servant.  I,  hating 
scenes,  flew  down  the  pathway  to  our  little  gate,  escaping  through  it  to  our  own 
garden. 


*' HUMANITY  IN  THE  LAP  OF  EARTH 

From  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  "Watts 


HT5IAH  HO  4AJ  3HT  Vil  YTmAMuii 
tit&W  .H  .O  yd  anitfii&4  llsW  mo-j"? 


^mmtmmmmm 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  99 

the  evening  of  the  same  day.  Mr.  Barrington,  on  another 
occasion,  saw  him  lose  control  of  his  nerves  with  a  workman 
who  brought  an  accusation  against  one  of  Watts'  servants. 
This  incident  proved  to  us  the  wisdom  of  his  keeping  his 
life  as  unruffled  and  unagitating  as  he  could,  for  it  was 
clearly  necessary  for  him  not  to  subject  himself  to  any  over 
excitement. 

PRESENTS    FROM    WATTS 

'  In  1878  Watts  gave  us  some  splendid  possessions. 
Since  the  time  he  first  inhabited  his  new  house,  a  large 
number  of  wooden  cases  were  stored  in  his  sculptor's  studio, 
the  iron  house,  and  a  few  even  were  standing  about  in  his 
garden.  They  contained  the  paintings  which  had  decorated 
the  walls  of  the  old  Little  Holland  House.  Having  been 
painted  on  the  plaster  of  the  actual  walls,  Watts  thought 
that  when  the  house  was  doomed  they  would  perish  with  it. 
A  very  gifted  and  ingenious  artist  friend  suggested  a  means 
of  preserving  the  paintings.  The  surfaces  were  pasted  over 
with  thick  brown  paper  before  the  walls  were  touched.  The 
workmen  then  hacked  the  plaster  away  to  within  an  inch  or 
two  behind  the  painting,  and  cutting  out  each  design  from 
the  walls,  packed  them  in  wooden  crates.  These,  number- 
ing twenty  or  more,  were  in  the  cases  lying  about  in  his 
studios  and  garden — very  much,  he  said,  in  his  way.  He 
wished  to  give  them  to  us.  He  made  very  light  of  this 
precious  offering,  laying  great  stress  on  the  obstruction  the 
cases  made  where  they  were.  He  had  no  time  to  see  the 
paintings  being  rescued  from  the  cases.  I  told  him  how 
happy  I  should  be  to  superintend  the  operation,  and  that 
our  factotum  should  do  it  for  him.  No,  he  said,  he  did  not 
want  them ;  he  had  no  place  in  his  house  to  put  them,  and 
he  wished  us  to  possess  them.      We  were,  of  course,  most 


loo       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

grateful  to  Watts  for  wishing  to  give  us  these  treasures,  and 
being  assured  over  and  over  again  by  him  that  he  could  not 
possibly  take  steps  towards  preserving  the  works,  and  that 
"knocking  about"  as  they  did  when  constantly  moved  out 
of  the  way  of  the  work  going  on  at  that  time  they  would 
certainly  before  long  become  entirely  destroyed,  we  accepted 
the  precious  gift.  Our  factotum  arrived,  Mr.  Alfred  Allgar 
from  Wandsworth,  and  the  interesting  process  began.  When 
removed  from  the  cases,  before  touching  the  brown  paper 
pasted  over  the  surface,  tow  and  plaster  soaked  in  size,  the 
material  Watts  was  using  for  modelling  the  equestrian  statue 
of  "  Hugh  Lupus,"  "  Physical  Energy,"  and  the  "  Aurora," 
was  squeezed  tightly  into  the  loose  rubble — the  remains  of  the 
wall  left  behind  the  pictures.  This  preparation  was  allowed 
to  harden  and  become  part  of  the  previous  ground.  Then  the 
exciting  process  began  of  washing  off  the  brown  paper  and 
gradually  seeing  the  designs  emerge.  One  of  these  was  a 
genuine  "al  fresco"  work — a  study  of  one  of  the  figures  in 
"Chaos";  the  others  were  painted  thinly  with  oil  colour 
mixed  with  turpentine,  on  the  dry  surfaces  of  the  walls  of 
the  old  Little  Holland  House.^  The  design  of  Greece 
lying  in  the  Lap  of  Egypt  obviously  recalls  "The  Fates" 
from  the  Parthenon  pediment.  Both  figures  in  this  panel 
were  taken  from  little  pencil  sketches^  of  Lady  Somers, 
likewise    "Poetry,"     "Science,"    and     the    figure    Progress 

*  These  wall  paintings  were  executed  very  much  in  the  same  method  as  the 
splendid  "Time  and  Oblivion,"  which  must,  I  think,  ever  rank  among^  Watts' 
very  finest  works — above  this  design  are  written  the  words  from  Ecclesiastes, 
"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might,  for  there  is  no  work, 
nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou  goest!" 
That  favourite  text  of  Watts'  embodies  the  impelling  impulses  of  his  most  serious 
life.  Unfortunately  the  surfaces  of  the  walls  on  which  he  painted  the  works  he 
gave  us  were  not  worthy  of  the  beautiful  paintings  with  which  he  decorated  them. 

*  Watts  showed  me  small  note-books  in  which  he  had  drawn,  in  most  delicate 
pencil  work,  sketches  of  several  of  his  friends. 


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OUR   FRIENDSHIP  loi 

in  the  design  representing  progress  and  non-progress  ; 
"  Hindustan"  from  her  sister,  Mrs.  Cameron  ;  "  The  Assyrian 
Empire,"  from  another  sister,  Mrs.  Jackson;  "Art,"  from 
Lady  Dalrymple,  also  a  sister;  "Truth"  in  "Time  Unveiling 
Truth,"  from  Mrs.  Vaughan,  a  niece  of  these  ladies,  and 
"Rome"  from  Lady  Lilford.'  The  "Mongol  Empire" 
was  drawn  also  from  a  friend  of  Watts',  not  a  model.  The 
most  beautiful  of  these  wall  paintings,  one  which  I  had 
framed  separately,  is,  I  think,  "  Humanity  in  the  Lap  of 
Earth,"  the  child  Humanity  being  one  of  the  pieces  of  work 
which  even  Watts  himself  admired.  That  representing 
"  The  Assyrian  Empire "  is  perhaps  the  most  notable  as 
a  design. 

Watts  told  me  that  he  had  painted  these  life-sized  figures 
on  the  walls  of  a  small  room — the  dining-room  in  the  old 
Little  Holland  House — to  exemplify  a  principle  which  he 
considered  of  importance  in  dealing  with  decoration,  namely, 
that  large  designs  on  the  walls  give  dignity  and  a  sense  of 
size  to  a  small  apartment  instead  of  being  inappropriate, 
which  many  consider  them  to  be.  He  felt,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  studding  the  walls  of  such  a  room  with  a  number 
of  small  frames  gave  a  sense  of  insignificance  to  it.  In  all 
matters  of  taste  to  which  his  attention  was  drawn,  Watts 
formed  very  definite  and  very  independent  opinions.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  absolutely  refused  to  ride  in  the  Park 
with  a  young  lady  friend  if  she  persisted  in  wearing  the 
high  hat  which  was  then  the  fashion.  He  wrote  many  notes 
concerning  dress.  Of  stays  he  had  a  horror,  and  I  possess 
little  pencil  drawings  showing  how  very  high  heels  deformed 
the  human  foot  into  the  shape  of  a  hoof! 

^  Watts  painted  the  head  of  this  figure  representing  the  Roman  Empire  from 
a  very  fine  study  in  chalk  he  had  made  of  Lady  Lilford,  ne'e  Emma  Brandling, 
one  of  the  beautiful  sisters  of  the  Northumberland  family  of  that  name. 


I02       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

Two  designs  named  "  Peace  and  War  "  ^  were  also  among 
the  original  designs  Watts  gave  us.  Besides  these  were 
several  copies  of  Flaxman's  designs  for  Dante's  "Inferno" 
and  "  Paradiso,"  drawn  in  outline,  and  painted  on  the  walls 
of  the  old  house  in  flat  colours.  These  I  arranged  mostly 
in  my  studio.  Another  present  he  gave  me  about  the  same 
time  was  a  piece  of  ivory  on  which  he  had  painted  in  minia- 
ture a  group  of  heads.  If  I  remember  rightly,  Watts  told 
me  these  were  the  only  miniatures  he  ever  achieved.  (See 
illustration.)  Yet  another  was  the  finishing  of  a  portrait  of 
Mr.  Barrington  which  I  had  begun.  With  great  difficulty, 
for  he  detested  sitting,  I  had  at  last  induced  my  husband 
to  let  me  beo;-in  a  head  from  him.  I  had  worked  twice  for 
half-an-hour  or  so  when  Watts,  as  was  his  custom  most 
mornings,  walked  into  my  studio  to  see  how  I  was  getting 
on.  He  stood  over  the  easel  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
asked  me  to  give  him  my  palette  and  brushes,  as  he  would 
like  to  paint  on  it.  He  continued  for  more  than  half-an-hour, 
evidently  pleased  with  the  subject.  When  he  got  up  I  said, 
"  Never  do  I  touch  that  again,  Signor."  "  Nonsense,"  he 
exclaimed,  "you  must  finish  it."  "Not  a  touch  of  mine 
shall  ever  spoil  those,"  I  repeated.  "  Oh,  that's  absurd ; 
but  if  you  won't,  I  must  finish  it  some  day  for  you,"  he  said. 
He  wrote  soon  after  asking  me  to  fix  a  morning  with  Mr. 
Barrington,  and  he  would  come  into  my  studio  to  finish  the 
portrait.  But  to  get  Mr.  Barrington  to  sit  was  an  achieve- 
ment abnormally  difficult,  and  it  was  not  till  October  1887, 
six  years  after  the  portrait  was  begun,  that  it  was  finished. 
Watts  was  just  starting  for  Malta,  and  wrote  me  a  little 
note  saying  he  thought  the  best  birthday  present  he  could 
make    me    (my    birthday    being    St.    Luke's    Day,    i8th    of 

'  First  placed  in  the  hall  of  Melbury  House,  but   subsequently  removed  to 
Leighton  House. 


MR.  RUSSELL  HARRINGTON 
From  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


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iii 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  103 

October)  was  to  finish  Mr.  Barrington's  portrait.  It  repre- 
sented three  hours'  work,  Watts'  hour  and  a  half  on  it  being 
the  last,  excepting  a  few  touches  I  put  on  the  background 
and  coat  when  he  had  finished  the  head.  He  also  often 
kindly  expressed  a  wish  to  paint  our  boy,  but  there  again 
to  achieve  a  sitting  was  too  great  a  difficulty.  He  intended 
to  paint  my  mother,  whom  he  admired  greatly,  and  it  was 
to  have  been  done  in  the  winter  of  1885  and  1886,  but  she 
was  too  unwell  to  sit,  and  died  in  the  May  of  1886.  Watts 
made  a  sketch  in  red  and  black  chalk  for  me  after  death, 
that  curiously  brought  out  a  likeness  to  some  of  my  mother's 
family  Watts  had  never  seen.  He  also  said  he  would  like 
to  paint  a  head  of  my  brother-in-law,  Orby  Shipley,  who 
had  kindly  given  Watts  a  sitting  for  the  hands  in  Cardinal 
Manning's  portrait  (there  being  a  strong  likeness  between 
the  Cardinal  and  my  brother-in-law),  but  there  again  the 
difficulty  was  to  obtain  the  compliance  of  the  sitter ! 

THE   GROSVENOR   GALLERY  AND  AMERICAN   EXHIBITIONS 

The  first  one-man  show  of  Watts'  pictures  was  at  the 
Grosvenor  Gallery  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1882.  Sir 
Coutts  Lindsay  had  made  overtures  to  him  during  the 
previous  autumn.  Watts,  in  talking  the  matter  over  with 
me,  seemed  disinclined  at  first  to  agree  to  the  suggestion. 
He  had  his  own  gallery  in  which  his  pictures  could  be 
seen,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  give  up  any  time  to  the 
arranging  of  such  an  exhibition.  He  was  also  ever  prone 
to  shrink  from  challenging  public  criticism,  feeling  most 
diffident  with  regard  to  his  productions.  He  felt  they 
were  unlike  the  work  that  was  easily  understood  and 
therefore  most  popular,  and  being  the  reverse  of  self- 
assertive,    he    dreaded    his    art    exciting    controversy    and 


I04       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

comparisons.       It    was    too    intimately    his    own,    too    much 
a    part    of    his    inner    secret    being,    for    him    not    to    shun 
exposing   it   to   the  jarring   note   which   publicity  invariably 
brings    with    it    to    very    sensitive    natures.       However,    Sir 
Coutts   Lindsay  and  the  secretaries  pressed  the  matter,  and 
Watts  became  gradually  interested  in  the  idea.     We  talked 
it  over  every  evening,  and  began  making  lists  of  the  pictures 
he   wanted  shown,  and  of  their  owners.      I  wrote  to  many 
of  these    for    him,   and    most    agreed  to    lend.     Watts  was 
very  anxious   that   the   beautiful   painting   on   panel   he  had 
named   "Choosing"  should  be  exhibited.      He  would  often 
say  of  pictures  painted  about  the  same  time  as  "Choosing," 
"  I   could  not  do  that  now,"  and  certainly  the  perfect  work- 
manship and  the  exquisite  feeling  of  beauty  in  this  picture 
puts  it  on   the   highest  level  of  Watts'   achievements  ;    but 
unfortunately    we    could    not    obtain    it    for    the   exhibition. 
The    owner   at    the    private   view   told    me    she    had    never 
received  any  letter  asking  for  it,   as   she  was   in    Rome    at 
the   time    it    was    written.       This    exhibition    was    my    first 
introduction  to  a  few  of  Watts'  most  beautiful  works.     Two 
of  the  four  pictures  of  the  Riders  on   the  Horses  from  the 
Apocalypse  were  new   to   me  ;    also   "  Life's    Illusions,"  the 
unrivalled  woman's  portrait  from  a  model  which   he  called 
"  Bianca,"  and  others.     This  exhibition  made  a  notable  land- 
mark  in   Watts'   reputation.      It   silenced   once    and    for  all 
those   who    had    maintained   that  his    real    gift   as  an  artist 
was  confined  to  portrait-painting,  that  his  other  efforts  were 
but  ambitious  failures.     How  many  arguments  I   had  fruit- 
lessly had  with  those  who  hitherto  had  held  this  view !     Now 
his  pictures  themselves  triumphantly  succeeded  in  converting 
the  general  public  to  a  truer  estimate.     Still  a  few  old  friends 
and  acquaintances,  besides  others,  remained  constant  to  their 
parti-pris,  though  after   the   Grosvenor   Gallery   Exhibition 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  105 

took  place,  it  was,  as  a  rule,  only  under  the  breath  that  they 
dared  express  such  opinions.  In  the  face  of  such  works 
as  "  Life's  Illusions,"  "  The  Dove  that  Returned  in  the 
Evening,"  "The  Four  Horses  with  their  Riders  from  the 
Apocalypse,"  "  Love  and  Death,"  the  "  Daphne,"  "  Psyche," 
and  many  others  that  hung  on  the  walls, — works  instinct 
with  original  genius,  belonging  to  no  school,  and  having 
in  their  conception  the  thoughts  of  a  finely  imaginative 
quality,  and  a  subtle,  sensitive  perception  of  ideas  trans- 
lated into  a  noble  art,  to  maintain  that  Watts'  only  gift, 
or  indeed  his  greatest  gift,  was  but  for  portraiture,  seemed 
to  be  a  limited  Philistinism  easily  demolished.  The  Times 
even  spoke  out  with  clenching  decision  on  the  subject. 
This  delighted  Watts.  He  wrote  to  me  from  Brighton, 
where  he  was  staying  during  the  early  weeks  when  the 
exhibition  first  opened,  that  he  had  been  most  gratified 
by  the  fact  that  The  Times  critic  had  entered  with  sym- 
pathy and  intelligence  into  his  aims  and  the  direction  he 
had  wished  to  follow  in  his  art.  It  was  with  reference  to 
the  selling  of  his  pictures  at  the  Grosvenor  Exhibition  that 
Watts  asked  Mr.  Barrington's  permission  to  refer  would-be 
purchasers  to  him.  The  idea,  I  think,  arose  out  of  many 
conversations  we  had  had  respecting  the  sale  of  his  pictures. 
From  the  earliest  days  of  our  acquaintance  to  the  last  winter 
before  he  died,  Watts  often  confided  to  me,  either  in  con- 
versation or  in  letters,  his  anxieties  regarding  money,  and 
his  consequent  desire  to  sell  pictures.  There  is  nothing 
perhaps  more  unaccountable  than  the  place  which  money 
takes  in  the  minds  of  different  people.  My  experience 
leads  me  to  think  that  the  vagaries  which  Nature  plays  with 
regard  to  money  in  the  minds  of  those  possessed  with  genius 
are  even  greater  than  those  she  plays  in  the  more  common- 
place  mind.      Watts'  ideas   were  divided   into  two  distinct 


io6       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

channels  as  regarded  "  the  root  of  all  evil."  The  one 
channel  was  directed  by  having  from  earliest  youth  to  earn 
his  own  living  (he  told  me  he  had  had  only  one  legacy 
left  him,  and  that  a  very  small  one);  also  by  principles  which 
led  him  to  the  strictest  economy  and  anxiety  about  money 
— namely,  a  horror  of  falling  into  debt,  intense  disapproval 
of  extravagance,  and  a  great  desire  not  to  have  to  think 
about  money.  These  views  directed  his  daily  habits  and 
personal  expenditure.  He  never  indulged  himself  in  any 
purchase  which  was  not  necessary  in  the  modest  work- 
man's life  which  he  had  chosen  as  that  most  truly  dignified 
and  consistent  with  his  great  aims.^  He  was  alarmed  at 
the  idea  of  expenses  being  entailed  on  him,  and,  becoming 
often  nervous,  would  at  times  exaggerate  his  economies 
with  regard  to  personal  expenditure.  The  other  channel 
was  directed  by  the  habit  of  his  dwelling  on  great  abstract 
themes,  his  lofty  imagination  securing  to  him  an  inner  life 
of  thought  which  placed  all  material  matters  at  a  discount. 
When  acting  from  the  level  of  the  higher  considerations, 
money  with  Watts  was  absolutely  disregarded,  his  aim  being 
to  secure  sympathy  with  his  own  elevated  trains  of  thought 
from  a  public  whom  they  might  benefit. 

A  friend  who  called  on    us   one  Sunday  afternoon,  just 
after  Watts  had  given  "  Love  and   Death  "  to  Manchester, 

1  When  walking  one  day  in  High  Street,  Kensington,  Watts  had  seen  a 
print  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence's  beautiful  full-length  portrait  of  Miss  Farren 
(afterwards  Lady  Derby).  He  was  enraptured  by  it,  and  told  me  how  happy 
it  would  make  him  to  possess  it,  but  of  course  he  must  put  aside  all  such  desires, 
as  he  could  not  afford  to  buy  anything  that  was  not  a  necessity.  How  happy  it 
made  me  to  think  that  I  knew  such  a  very  simple  way  to  give  him  pleasure,  letting 
alone  the  sense  that  we  were  so  greatly  his  debtors  with  regard  to  the  magnificent 
present  of  the  wall  paintings.  I  at  once  bought  the  print  for  him,  and  he 
thoroughly  enjoyed  the  gift.  We  found  a  great  charm  in  all  transactions  with 
Watts  of  the  kind,  he  had  so  child-Hke  a  simplicity  in  his  powers  of  enjoy- 
ment. 


■rtm^ 


**THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE** 
From  "Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


'jT_r-.*  ♦v 


51  HHT 


zJifiW  .H  .O  yd  .. 


\ 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  107 

told  us  that  three  thousand  pounds  had  been  offered  Watts 
for   the   picture,    but  he    had    refused    it.      Our  friend  was 
immensely  struck  by  his  generosity.      When   I    saw  Watts 
later  in  the  day,  I  told  him  of  this  friend's  enthusiasm.      "  I 
don't  find  any   difficulty  in  giving  three  thousand  pounds; 
I  should  in  giving  five  shillings,"  I  remember  he  answered. 
He  would   discuss    with    me  often    the    seeming   anomalies 
in   his    nature,    being   as   ever   desirous   of  reaching   in   all 
matters  a  ground  consistent  with  his  loftiest  desires,  and  yet 
wishing  to  be  absolutely  sincere  with  himself.     This  was  often 
a  difficulty  owing  to  qualities  in  his  nature  which  involved 
curious   intricacies.      That  nothing   can  make  people  more 
easily   misunderstood  than  shyness    is    obvious,   and   Watts 
was  very  shy,  and  consequently  he  not  unfrequently  found 
himself  in    a    false  position.       Many  statements  have   been 
made  to  the  effect  that  he  did  not  wish  to  sell  his  pictures, 
which  led  to  the  belief  that  he  was  free  from  the  necessity 
of  considering  money.     Watts  himself,  as  far  as  my  personal 
knowledge  of  him  goes,  was  absolutely  without  any  affecta- 
tion with  respect   to    his   pecuniary  position.     He  used  to 
speak  with   entire  frankness  as  to  the  necessity  he  had  of 
selling  some  of  his  pictures,  and  we  had  often  helped  him, 
as  far  as  it  lay  in  our  power,  to  do  this.     When  I  repeated 
to   him  any  expressions  of  admiration  I   had  heard  for  his 
work  (I,  on   principle,   always    did    this   in    order  to  try  to 
counteract  his  depression  concerning  its  want  of  popularity), 
he  would  say  it    was  very  nice  to  hear  that  any  one  sympa- 
thised with  it,  but  that  he  thought  that  if  people  really  cared 
for  it  they  would  buy  it.     I  would  tell  him  I  thought  that 
shyness  was  catching,  and  people  felt  as  shy  as  he  did  about 
discussing  prices  with  him.      This  idea  seemed  to  sink  in, 
for  after  the  Grosvenor    Gallery  Exhibition  opened,   Watts 
wrote  to  me  (January  8,  1882) — Mr.  Harrington's  defective 


io8       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

eyesight  precluding  Watts  from  carrying  on  any  direct  cor- 
respondence with  Mr.  Harrington — that  he  thought  he  must 
get  some  friend  to  whom  purchasers  might  be  referred, 
"some  one  of  whom  questions  may  be  asked  without  the 
risk  of  wounding  my  delicate  susceptibilities!  Will  Mr. 
Barrington  undertake  the  office?"  In  the  same  letter, 
referring  to  paying  a  workman  recommended  by  Canon 
Barnett,  he  wrote  that  he  would  willingly  aid  him,  but  he 
was  only  a  working-man  himself,  and  his  bills  are  not  less 
alarming  than  frequent.  Even  if  he  might  venture  to  hope 
the  G.  G.  (Grosvenor  Gallery)  would  be  a  sort  of  success, 
and  certainly  he  had  had  an  amount  of  applause  to  which 
he  was  unaccustomed,  he  would  make  any  bet  buyers  would 
be  as  shy  as  formerly.  He  felt  he  never  could  be  a  popular 
painter,  and  popularity  alone  was  the  thing  buyers  looked  to 
— investments,  in  fact,  while  gratifying  taste.  He  thought 
people  felt  that  perhaps  there  is  something  in  the  works 
that  should  command  a  successful  artist's  price,  though 
they  would  be  unwilling  to  give  it,  and  so  did  not  like  to 
ask  him.  Mr.  Barrington  was  in  Somerset  when  this  letter 
arrived,  so  I  wrote  him  the  following,  which  I  find  among 
Watts'  letters  :  "  Mr.  Watts  writes  to  ask  if  you  will  be  good 
enough  to  allow  him  to  refer  some  people  who  want  to  buy 
some  of  the  pictures  at  the  Grosvenor  to  you,  as  he  would 
far  prefer  the  bargaining  going  through  a  friend.  I  am 
writing  that  you  are  away,  but  that  I  am  sure  you  would 
not  mind  doing  it  when  you  come  back.  He  suggests 
Holman  Hunt  as  a  knowing  person  to  consult  about  prices. 
It  is  just  what  he  wants,  some  man  friend  who  will  take 
the  matter  in  hand."  Watts  had  written  later,  saying  he 
had  a  letter  from  Mr.  Halle  saying  that  applications 
had  been  made  to  know  the  prices  of  the  following  pic- 
tures :    "When  Poverty  Comes  in,  &c.,"  "Arion  saved  by 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  109 

Dolphin,"^  "Esau,"  "Creation  of  Eve,"  "Myth  of  Greek 
Poetry,"  "Carrara  Mountains"  ("Farm  Buildings,  Fresh- 
water," "Evening  at  Freshwater,"  and  "Landscape  Study"). 
These  within  brackets  Watts  did  not  recognise.  "  I  wonder 
whether  Mr.  Harrington  would  let  me  refer  proposing  buyers 
to  him  ?  and,  further,  whether  he  would  take  counsel  with 
Holman  Hunt,  or  some  one  in  the  habit  of  selling  pictures, 
as  to  what  would  be  a  fair  price  to  ask  ?  "  For  the  "  Carrara 
Mountains  "  Watts  wanted  a  thousand  guineas,  and  thought 
that  as  Millais  got  three  or  four  thousand  for  his  landscapes, 
he  didn't  think  the  price  unreasonable  ;  the  other  landscapes, 
of  course,  would  range  at  smaller  prices.  He  thought  the 
Greek  poetry  picture,^  considering  all  things,  for  example 
that  Alma-Tadema  got  three  thousand  for  his  "Sappho,' 
ought  not  to  be  less  than  one  thousand  or  one  thousand  five 
hundred  ;  he  would  sell  it  for  eight  hundred  or  nine  hundred, 
reserving  the  copyright  and  power  of  repeating  it ;  "  Esau" 
he  would  sell  for  seven  or  eight  hundred  (always  guineas). 
"  Poverty  "  he  does  not  know  what  to  say  about ;  he  wanted 
to  repeat  it,  and  certainly  would  not  sell  the  copyright.  His 
letters  show  how  entirely  simple  and  straightforward  we 
found  Watts  in  money  transactions  regarding  pictures,  never 
for  a  moment  affecting  any  position  other  than  his  own.  In 
my  personal  contact  with  him,  I  always  found  Watts  singu- 
larly alive  to  the  vulgarity  of  any  kind  of  pretension.  For 
some  reason,  which  has  escaped  my  memory,  we  spoke  to 
Burne-Jones,  not  to  Holman  Hunt,  respecting  the  prices 
of  his  pictures.     I  recollect  one  piece  of  advice  Burne-Jones 

^  It  was  the  little  baby  figure  hovering  over  the  waves  in  the  corner  of  this 
picture  which  I  remember  comparing  to  a  wild  rose-leaf  in  colour  when  looking  at 
the  picture  with  Watts,  which  he  later  on  copied  and  enlarged,  calling  it  "  Good 
Luck  to  your  Fishing." 

2  Wordsworth's  lines  beginning  "The  world  is  too  much  with  us,"  had  sug- 
gested this  picture  to  Watts. 


no       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

gave  us.  He  said  "  You  must  never  let  Watts  alter  his 
price.  Whatever  price  he  asks  for  a  picture  that  he  must 
stick  to." 

Watts  would  often  repeat  with  reference  to  any  praise 
his  personal  friends  gave  to  his  work,  "  Ah  !  defend  me  from 
my  friends  !  As  sure  as  the  scales  go  up  with  exaggerated 
expressions  of  admiration  on  one  side,  so  certainly  will  they 
go  down  the  lower  when  the  exaggeration  is  found  out !  "  ^ 

Leighton  met  me  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  and  we  went 
through  the  exhibition  carefully  together.  Knowing  that 
Watts  wished  transactions  for  purchasing  his  pictures  to  be 
referred  to  Mr.  Barrington,  he  asked  me  to  ascertain  the 
price  of  "  Psyche,"  as  he  wanted  to  suggest  to  the  Council 
of  the  Royal  Academy  that  it  should  be  bought  for  the 
Chantrey  Bequest.^  In  answering  my  letter  on  the  subject, 
Watts  shows  that  eager  interest  in  Leighton's  approval  of 
his  work  which  he  always  expressed.  "  Do  you  think 
Leighton  was  really  pleased  ."* "  he  asks.  The  assertion, 
made  not  infrequently,  that  Watts  was  indifferent  to  the 
published  criticisms  on  his  work  in  papers  and  magazines 
is  incorrect.  Letters  I  have,  and  my  recollection  of  conver 
sations,  prove  conclusively  the  contrary.  With  regard  to 
this  exhibition  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  he  collected  all  the 
newspapers  and  magazines  which  contained  criticisms  on  it, 
and  these  formed  a  great  part  of  our  reading  in  the  evenings 
at  that  time.  This  is  one  of  the  cases  when  certain  people 
endeavoured  to  put  Watts  on  to  stilts,  which  I  do  not  think 
he  ever  wished  himself  to  mount.  It  would  have  been 
indeed  unnatural  if  one  whose  daily  labour  from  sunrise  to 

'  Another  wise  saying  Watts  was  never  tired  of  repeating  was,  that  the  faults 
which  people  find  in  others  they  may  invariably  trace  as  belonging  to  their  own 
natures. 

'  Leighton's  endeavours  were  successful,  and  the  picture  is  now  in  the  Tate 
Gallery. 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  iii 

sunset  was  the  producing  of  art,  should  have  felt  no  interest 
in  learning  how  far  his  aims  and  achievements  had  found  an 
understanding  echo  and  sympathy  in  the  public  mind.  Watts 
was  too  much  in  sympathy  with  that  public  mind  (however 
misguided  he  might  at  times  feel  it  to  be),  he  cared  too 
much  for  his  own  generation,  he  desired  too  earnestly  to 
guide  it  from  materialism  to  noble  thought  and  action,  to 
be  indifferent  to  the  judgment  of  the  public.  Criticism 
never  permanently  influenced  his  aims  or  methods  ;  but  that 
he  was  depressed  by  adverse,  and  pleased  by  favourable 
criticisms,  was  certainly  the  case.  He  wrote  much  that  was 
interesting  on  the  subject.  It  astounded  him  to  read  with 
what  confidence  writers  could,  with  a  sledge-hammer  per- 
emptoriness,  clench  a  decision  on  processes  and  methods 
which  took  the  greatest  craftsmen  in  art  years  to  master. 
The  actual  grammar — to  say  nothing  of  further  experiences 
in  training  as  an  artist — was  too  difficult  to  learn  without 
special  training  and  giving  up  the  best  of  life's  energies  to 
its  acquisition.  How,  then,  he  used  to  ask,  can  those,  with- 
out having  directed  their  studies  to  such  special  training, 
decide  points  on  technical  matters  on  which  great  artists 
themselves  would  feel  a  diffidence  in  giving  judgment  ? 
Let  writers,  by  all  means,  express  opinions  on  the  points 
in  a  picture  or  statue  which  touch  a  general  ground  of 
culture  open  to  all  who  can  discriminate  between  what 
suggests  the  noble  or  the  debased,  what  is  superficially  or 
earnestly  felt,  what  is  genuine  or  affected  in  idea  and  senti- 
ment; but  to  write,  as  some  did,  with  no  hint  of  diffidence 
as  to  their  power  and  right  to  decide  what  was  correct  or 
incorrect  in  the  drawing  or  proportions  of  figures  in  a  picture, 
the  possible  form  action  in  human  or  animal's  limbs  can  take 
under  certain  conditions,  and  other  such  points,  astounded 
him  beyond  measure.      With  one  sweep   of  their  pen  they 


112       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

pronounced  unqualified  judgment  on  the  work  on  which  an 
artist  had  conscientiously  laboured  for  months, — even  years. 
The  incessant  manual  labour  involved  in  the  creation  of  great 
art  is  obviously  seldom  recognised  by  those  who  are  only 
writers.  They  see  works  when  completed  ;  they  cannot 
put  themselves  into  the  processes  which  effect  completion. 
It  is  a  world  to  itself — that  creating  of  art.  Ruskin,  being 
a  great  craftsman,  knew  the  secrets  of  the  trick,  and  could 
write  from  that  further  point  of  experience.  He  knew  that 
the  occupation  of  a  painter  of  great  pictures,  inasmuch  as 
it  sets  to  work  simultaneously  the  head,  the  heart,  and  the 
hand — ideality,  affections,  and  physical  energy  are  all  required 
in  their  creation.  The  aesthetic  perceptions  of  the  writer 
who  uses  only  his  brain  and  taste  does  not  reach  the  inner 
chamber.  The  vraie  vdrite  of  the  thing  which  is  a  crea- 
tion,— the  special  technique  as  certainly  as  the  thought  in 
the  work,  separate  from  all  mere  imitation  or  expected  per- 
formance,— was  not  completely  sounded,  it  was  only  skimmed 
over.  Never  was  the  technique  of  an  artist  less  fitted  to  be 
judged  by  those  whose  aim  was  merely  to  make  a  livelihood 
by  turning  their  pen  to  use  as  art  critics  than  was  Watts. 
Every  conception  was  the  result  of  an  individual  vivid  im- 
pression which  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  picture 
making,  any  more  than  had  William  Blake's  creations  to 
do  with  picture  making.  Each  invention  was  an  inspiring 
surprise  even  to  himself.  Though  he  said  he  had  never, 
except  in  the  instance  of  "  Time,  Death,  and  Judgment," 
seen  a  vision  of  the  subject  in  his  mind's  eye,  it  was  a  com- 
bination of  impressions  on  that  mind's  eye,  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  an  idea  in  his  brain,  which  shot  out  something  like 
nothing  else  in  art,  but  which  became  so  fixed  in  his  brain 
that  he  could  work  from  the  conception  for  years  and  it 
would  not  alter  one  whit  in  its  main  features.     But  what  was 


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OUR   FRIENDSHIP  113 

the  ordinary  newspaper  critic  of  that  day  to  say  about  such 
stuff  as  that  ?  He  had  no  clue  ;  it  was  not  like  anything 
else;  how  was  he  to  get  his  copy  out  of  it?  He  must 
appear  wise,  Watts  could  not  be  exactly  ignored,  so  he  gene- 
rally ended  by  abusing  it  as  not  having  the  good  qualities  of 
work  to  which  the  critic  chose  to  compare  it — creative  im- 
agination being  the  last  power  such  writers  dreamt  of 
ascribing  to  any  of  Watts'  art  in  those  days.  We  read 
much  "criticism"  in  the  newspapers  in  which  we  recognised 
this  process  as  having  taken  place.^ 

When,  however,  an  intelligent  criticism  was  written 
he  fully  valued  it.  On  January  7,  1882,  he  wrote  from  Brigh- 
ton that  the  article  in  The  Times,  while  gratifying  him,  as 
proving  not  only  a  wish  to  understand  the  impulses  under 
the  influence  of  which  Watts  had  always  worked,  but  also  that 
perception  of  them  which  he  has  so  rarely  met  with  from 
the  critic  would,  he  was  afraid,  appear  to  be  written  in  too 
friendly  a  spirit,  and  might,  even  among  some  more  generally 
successful  artists,  have  been  so  by  implied  comparisons.  He 
wrote  he  should  be  sorry  for  this,  for  much  as  he  valued 
the  praise  for  intention,  which  he  could  not  but  feel  to  be 
his  due,  his  feeling  upon  reading  the  article  a  second  time 
was  almost  one  of  alarm.     He  would  be  sorry  if  excessive 

1  To  this  habit  of  the  critics  with  respect  to  his  early  picture,  "  The  Heron," 
Watts  refers  in  a  letter  written  May  19, 1889  :  "  I  see  in  the  same  paper  {Spectator) 
a  notice  of  the  New  Gallery  ;  it  is  strange  that  one  can  never  do  anything  in  the 
way  of  painting  without  being  supposed  to  be  prompted  by  some  old  master.  The 
critic  finds  the  influence  of  Hondecoeter  !  I  don't  suppose  at  the  time  I  painted 
"The  Heron"  I  had  ever  seen  a  picture  by  the  Dutch  painter,  and  even  now 
I  hardly  recall  anything  of  his.  I  think  the  criticism  otherwise  good  enough  ! 
I  daresay  the  head  wants  truth,  for  it  was  not  studied  from  a  living  model,  and 
cannot  compare  with  Japanese  birds."  Whatever  interest  Watts  took  in  reading 
the  criticisms  on  his  own  art,  he  always  maintained  that  living  in  an  age  when  the 
artist  was  being  constantly  exposed  to  criticism  was  detrimental  to  the  state  of 
mind  which  was  the  happiest  and  best  for  the  highest  interests  of  his  work. 

H 


IT4        REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

approval  of  his  aims,  and  the  outcome,  should  read  like 
reflection  upon  other  artists  ;  and,  indeed,  he  thought  that 
the  critic  had  gone  beyond  this.  All  his  life  he  had  done 
without  public  applause,  and  still  felt  that  he  would  rather 
be  undervalued  than  overrated.  Yet,  as  he  had  said  before, 
he  was  gratified  to  find  his  feeling  and  intentions  intellectu- 
ally read  ;  here,  for  the  first  time,  a  critic  found  the  things 
which  so  generally  seem  to  be  anachronisms,  echoes  of 
intensely  modern  feeling  ;  so  much  was  Watts  gratified  and 
surprised,  that  he  could  not  help  writing  to  the  critic  to 
thank  him  for  taking  so  much  trouble.  He  hoped  he  (the 
writer)  would  not  think  thereby  that  he  had  used  "soft 
sawder "  for  the  purpose  of  getting  more  praise  and  depre- 
ciating just  censure !  This  letter  was  written  on  a  Friday 
evening.  The  next  day  he  wrote  a  postscript,  dated  Satur- 
day— "The  above  I  wrote  last  night.  This  morning  your 
letter  brings  me  pleasant  news  that  the  exhibition  does  not 
seem  to  be  a  failure  generally."  He  wondered  how  far  it 
was  a  real  success !  and  added  that  of  course  the  people 
whom  we  saw,  as  a  rule  would  see  rather  what  he  had 
intended  than  what  was.  Somehow  the  praise  of  The  Times 
critic  made  him  feel  culpable,^  and  as  if  he.  Watts,  had  been 
taking  something  from  other  workers  ;  but  he  felt,  neverthe- 
less, that  it  was  pleasant  to  be  rightly  interpreted,  and  so  far, 
he  thought,  he  had  a  right  to  be  pleased  ;  the  critic  had  not 
exaggerated  his  aspirations.  He  finished  the  letter  by  say- 
ing he  is  puzzled  what  to  do  about  Fryatt !  (a  workman 
Canon  Barnett  had  recommended  to  Watts  through  Mr. 
Harrington,  to  help  him  in  his  sculpture).  "  If  I  had  plenty 
of  money  I  should  know  very  well,  but  as  more  than  ever 

'  This  feeling  resulted  partly  from  the  fact  that  Watts  had  had  a  conversation 
with  the  critic  with  reference  to  his  Grosvenor  Gallery  exhibition  before  the  article 
in  The  Times  was  written. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  115 

I  Intend  to  devote  myself  to  those  objects  which  neither 
Quilter  nor  any  one  else  can  render  popular,  I  must  look  at 
every  penny." 

Though  many  pictures  returned  to  Little  Holland  House 
after  the  exhibition  in  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  a  certain 
number  were  sold  as  the  result  of  their  having  been  seen 
there.  It  certainly  led  to  a  much  higher  and  wider  appre- 
ciation of  Watts'  art,  and  brought  many  more  visitors  to 
his  own  gallery.  It  was  a  visit  from  an  American  to  this 
gallery  which  led  to  the  exhibition  of  Watts'  pictures  in 
New  York  in  the  years  1885-6.  Watts  introduced  me  to 
this  visitor,  who  expressed  a  great  wish  that  we  should 
arrange  for  such  an  exhibition,  Watts'  work  being  practically 
unknown  in  America  at  that  time.  An  anxious  but  most 
interesting  time  followed.  The  scheme  was  full  of  diffi- 
culties. The  American  artist,  Mr.  Frank  Millett,  gave 
most  valuable  aid,  and  Watts  began  to  decide  which  pictures 
should  be  sent.  Still  there  remained  what  appeared  to  be 
an  almost  insurmountable  wall.  The  duty  on  works  of  art 
when  entering  America  was  so  enormous  that  no  one  seemed 
prepared  to  pay  it.  A  most  ingenious  method  was  thought 
of.  The  whole  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  where  the 
pictures  would  be  exhibited,  were  they  sent,  must  be  put  into 
bond.  On  any  picture  that  was  sold  leaving  the  museum, 
and  remaining  in  America,  duty  must,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
be  paid,  but  the  pictures  that  left  England  and  came  back 
would,  never  having  been  taken  out  of  bond,  escape  the 
duty.  This  was  done,  and  I  made  the  lists  of  the  pictures, 
and  also  wrote  the  preface  to  the  catalogue,  discussing  each 
sentence  with  Watts,  so  that,  though  it  was  my  writing. 
Watts  passed  every  word  as  being  in  accord  with  his  views 
and  intentions.  For  this  reason  I  reprint  it  in  full  among 
these  reminiscences.     When  it  was  nearly  all  settled  I  went 


ii6       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

to  Somerset.  Watts  wrote  to  me  that  he  could  not  get 
"Watchman,  what  of  the  Night?"  or  "The  Island  of  Cos," 
but  "  The  Dove  that  Returned  not  Again  '  and  Leslie 
Stephen's  portrait  were  to  be  added  to  our  list.  "  My  own 
portrait,"  he  writes,  "  I  don't  want  to  go,  and  Panizzi  I  won't 
send "  (Watts  always  spoke  of  this  portrait  as  one  of  his 
very  best).  "  Fifty-three  is  a  very  good  number — quite 
enough."  He  was  sorry  to  say  "Love  and  Death"  and 
"Time,  Death,  and  Judgment"  were  quite  unfinished,  for 
he  had  been  losing  a  great  deal  of  time  by  having  been 
constantly  ill.  They  had.  Watts  wrote,  character  and  aim, 
and  therefore  he  sent  them,  but  he  should  like  it  to  be 
made  clear  that  he  only  sent  them  for  those  reasons.  The 
"Eve"  was  also  unfinished  as  regarded  the  background,  &c., 
but  he  had  done  a  great  deal  to  it,  and  he  thought  I  would 
like  it ;  also  he  believed  he  had  very  greatly  improved  the 
"White  Horse" — "very  greatly,  I  think!"  Still  all  these 
he  considered  were  incomplete,  for  they  could  only  be  com- 
pleted by  constant  returning  to  and  working  upon.  If  they 
returned  he  hoped  to  make  them  much  better.  The  pictures, 
fifty-three  in  number,  were  sent,  but  more  than  a  fortnight 
elapsed  and  nothing  was  heard  of  them.  Watts  naturally 
became  most  anxious,  and,  pessimistic  as  ever,  anticipated 
the  worst.  He  endeavoured  to  force  his  mind  into  a  philo- 
sophical attitude,  and  accept  with  composure  the  fact  that 
a  greater  part  of  his  life's  work  had  gone  to  the  bottom 
of  the  sea!  However,  a  joyful  note  arrives:  "The  vessel 
has  gone  into  port  all  right,  but  the  pictures  cannot  be 
unpacked  for  a  few  days,  so  whether  they  have  suffered  or 
not  during  a  very  bad  passage  cannot  be  known  yet.  I  am 
as  well  as  ever  I  am,  and  it  would  be  very  ungrateful  to 
complain.  Still  improvements  in  all  ways  would  be  very 
possible  without  disturbing  the  uniformity  of  nature!' 


** PEACE  AND  WAR** 
From  "Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


ziliW  .H  .O  yd  aaijnifi*^  llfiW  moiH 


r 


** PEACE  AND  WAR** 
From  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


'Sff 


moi  • 


c^. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  117 

Encouraging  letters  arrive  to  me  from  America,  but  Watts 
is  incredulous  as  to  the  success  of  the  exhibition.  He  had 
made  up  his  mind  it  would  be  a  failure.  He  had  a  presen- 
timent it  would  be  so.  He  writes,  "  I  hear  nothing  from 
America,  and  really  can't  help  thinking  if  the  success  of  the 
things  had  been  real  or  satisfactory — would  have  written. 
I  do  not  think  much  about  the  matter,  and  am  certainly  not 
troubled  by  it,  but  for  the  sake  of  so  many  people  I  should 
be  sorry  for  failure."  Another  example  of  Watts'  ignoring 
the  unreal  and  stilted  position  some  people  gave  him,  I  find 
in  a  letter  written  respecting  this  exhibition.  He  was  much 
vexed  that  certain  dock-dues  had  not  been  refunded  to  Mr. 
Smith,  the  frame-maker  and  packer,  who  had  paid  them. 
Watts  wrote  that  he  was  prepared  to  bear  the  expense  and 
say  nothing  about  it,  though  it  would  be  really  a  serious 
matter,  but  that  it  did  not  do  to  shrink  from  practical 
responsibilities  while  making  splendid  exclamations  about 
the  "horrible"  impropriety  of  speaking  to  him  on  the  matter; 
"that  I  think  ludicrous,"  he  adds,  referring  to  a  letter  from 
an  American  who  appeared  to  be  appalled  that  such  a  mun- 
dane matter  as  dock-dues  should  have  been  even  mentioned 
to  Watts ! 

Soon  the  admiration  expressed  showed  Watts  that  his 
works  were  doing  some  good.  I  received  many  letters  full 
of  enthusiasm.  He  sent  me  one  letter  from  Mr.  Frank 
Millett.  It  said:  "You  have  heard,  no  doubt,  of  the  un- 
paralleled success  your  pictures  are  having  here,  so  I  won't 
trouble  you  with  any  description  of  it.  We  are  all  very 
glad  you  are  going  to  permit  the  pictures  to  remain  here 
longer.  They  have  done  our  art  here  a  great  good,  and 
it  is  most  gratifying  to  find  them  so  much  appreciated."  In 
the  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  which  was  sent  me,  of  March 
II,  1886,  the  following  paragraph  appeared  :  "  Lovers  of  art 


ii8       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

will  learn  with  pleasure  that  the  Watts  collection  of  pictures 
will  remain  on  exhibition  until  October.  Ever  since  it  has 
been  shown  great  crowds  have  been  attracted  to  the  Metro- 
politan Museum  of  Art,  and  the  trustees  decided  that  while 
so  much  good  was  being  accomplished  the  pictures  ought 
not  to  be  sent  home.  Mr.  Watts  gracefully  complied  with 
the  request  to  lend  them  a  little  longer. 

IDEAS   AND    METHODS  1 

Preface  from  the  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Loan  Collection  of  Paintings  by 
G.  F.  Watts,  R.A.,  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York,  May  to 
October  1885,  by  Mrs.  Russell  Barrington. 

In  selecting  pictures  to  send  to  this  exhibition,  the  artist 
has  chosen  those  which  he  considers  show  most  distinctly  the 
character,  aim,  and  intention  of  his  work.  It  is  obvious  that 
among  these  are  some  which  are  far  from  being  finished 
works — some,  moreover,  which  in  all  probability  he  will 
continue  to  retouch  and  endeavour  to  improve  as  long  as 
he  is  able  to  work.  He  has  never  painted  any  pictures  with 
a  view  to  their  being  exhibited,  his  sole  object  being  to 
express  certain  moods  of  thought  and  feeling  through  the 
language  of  art.  He  believes  that  some  of  the  subjects  he 
has  chosen  deserve  all  the  labour  that  can  be  bestowed  upon 
them,  and  that,  though  some  of  the  pictures  are  unfinished, 
they  show  the  aim  toward  which  he  works  sufficiently  clearly 
to  make  them  characteristic  examples  of  his  art.  The  "Paolo 
and  Francesca"  and  the  "Orpheus  and  Eurydice"  are,  he 
considers,  finally  finished;  but  "Time,  Death,  and  Judg- 
ment," "  Love  and  Death,"  and  the  "  Eve  Tempted,"  he 
hopes  to  improve  considerably  by  future  work.  "  Love 
and  Death  "  was  in  a  more  finished  condition  at  one  time, 

1  Reprinted  from  "  A  Retrospect." 


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OUR   FRIENDSHIP  119 

but  Mr.  Watts  had  painted  out  portions  in  order  to  improve 
it  before  there  was  any  question  of  sending  the  pictures 
to  America,  and,  owing  to  ill-health  during  the  last  three 
months,  had  not  been  able  to  work  upon  it  as  he  would  have 
wished  to  do  before  sending  it. 

In  none  of  this  artist's  work,  not  even  in  the  painting  of 
portraits,  have  realistic  qualities  been  the  chief  aim.  The 
desire  has  been  always  to  suggest  the  abstract  side  of  the 
ideas  which  the  artist  has  endeavoured  to  convey  through 
the  medium  of  his  art ;  to  suggest  a  beauty  which  shall  touch 
the  intellectual  and  finer  sensibilities  as  well  as  a  beauty 
which  alone  strikes  the  eye.  Mr.  Watts  has  tried  to  embody 
in  art  an  echo  of  the  essential  interests  of  life ;  something 
more  complete  in  its  suggestiveness  to  the  whole  of  human 
nature  than  mere  artistic  completeness  could  ever  be.  The 
very  nature  of  this  aspiration  has  excluded  the  possibility  of 
the  kind  of  finish  which  is  possible  in  realistic  work,  because 
the  treatment  which  is  appropriate  to  the  character  of  his 
subjects  does  not  befit  a  realistic  study  of  nature.  He  has 
striven,  moreover,  after  that  truth  in  art,  which  would  be  less 
true  were  it  realistically  portrayed,  inasmuch  as  such  realism 
would  jar  with  and  put  out  of  tune  qualities  which  are  essential 
in  imaginative  art,  in  the  same  manner  that  a  real  object 
coming  before  us  and  striking  our  physical  eye  will  obliterate 
a  vision  of  memory  or  imagination,  which  our  mental  eye  has 
been  dwelling  on.  The  truth  which  he  aims  at  expressing  in 
his  art  is  that  which,  being  consistent  with  the  unvarying  laws 
of  nature,  at  the  same  time  contains  a  suggestion  of  nature's 
ideality,  the  truth  which  embraces  at  once  nature's  obvious 
facts  and  immutable  laws,  and  her  poetry.  To  keep  a  right 
balance  and  harmony  between  structural,  scientific  truth, 
and  poetical,  ideal  truth,  necessitates,  he  believes,  a  treat- 
ment   the    contrary  of  realistic,   one  which   shall    carry   the 


I20      REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

work  into  an  atmosphere  congenial  with  subjects  which 
appeal  to  the  least  material  part  of  our  nature. 

Mr.  Watts  carries  this  aim  into  the  most  technical 
qualities  of  his  art,  be  it  painting  or  sculpture,  as  well  as 
into  the  more  general  treatment.  He  aims  at  combining 
great  precision  and  exactness  in  rendering  the  essential 
truths  of  form  and  the  delicate  gradation  and  harmony  which 
are  found  in  nature's  colouring,  with  a  free,  loose  touch 
which  gives  a  palpitating,  tremulous  quality  to  the  surface 
of  a  painting,  and  approximates,  he  thinks,  nearest  to  the 
constant  condition  of  the  atmosphere  in  nature. 

In  painting  portraits  he  has  worked  quite  as  much  from 
a  mental  vision  created  by  the  impression  which  the  nature, 
career,  and  character  of  his  sitter  has  produced  on  his  own 
mind,  than  from  the  personality  before  him.  He  endeavours 
to  give  us  the  essential,  individualising  characteristics — the 
very  nature  of  the  man  ;  his  aspect  as  it  is  influenced  by 
his  mind,  character,  and  employment,  be  he  poet,  artist, 
statesman,  musician,  ecclesiastic,  or  soldier.  How  the  light 
struck  certain  forms  and  colours  at  a  given  moment  in  the 
steady  north  light  of  a  studio,  producing  patches  of  light 
and  shade,  colour  and  tone  upon  certain  forms  and  tints, 
these  are  the  facts  alone  which  many  painters  of  the 
realistic  school  aim  at  recording  in  painting  portraits,  and 
most  forcible  momentary  impressions  are  thus  rendered  by 
the  genius  of  a  few  ;  but  Mr.  Watts'  interest  has  been  ex- 
cited by  the  more  intellectual  conception  of  portrait-painting, 
and  he  has  not  cared  so  much  to  render  the  physical  aspect 
of  his  sitters  at  one  given  moment  as  to  suggest  the  im- 
pression their  appearance  would  leave  on  the  memory  of 
interested  and  observant  friends. 

Portrait-painting  he  considers  the  best  study  any  artist 
can  have  for  ideal  work.      It  makes  the  artist  familiar  with 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  121 

the  various  ways  in  which  form  influences  expression,  and 
in  which  different  types  are  suggestive  of  different  classes 
of  nature  and  feeling. 

Where  imaginative  truth  in  the  conception  is  aimed  at,  a 
wide  experience  of  nature's  variety  in  form  and  proportion 
will  give  not  only  courage,  but  power  in  carrying  out  the 
conception.  Full  emphasis  can  be  given  to  the  individuality 
of  the  type  which  is  chosen  by  the  artist  to  express  the 
,  sentiment  he  desires,  without  running  the  risk  of  exaggerat- 
ing and  over-emphasising  expression  beyond  the  limits  of 
nature's  own  laws  of  beauty  and  harmony.  In  brief,  he 
believes  that  careful,  direct,  and  honest  portrait-painting  is 
the  shortest  way  in  which  an  artist  can  acquire  knowledge, 
and  the  best  antidote  against  mannerism.  At  the  same 
time  he  strongly  disapproves  of  mixing  the  spirit  of  direct 
portraiture  and  the  sentiment  of  idealism  in  the  same  work, 
for  the  reasons  before  named — namely,  a  piece  of  pure  por- 
traiture must  always  jar  in  a  work  which  is  ideal  in  its 
sentiment,  because  what  we  see  or  could  see  any  day  would 
not  harmonise  with  a  purely  imaginative  conception.  Not 
that  there  are  no  beautiful  and  characteristic  examples  of 
form  and  colour  in  the  men  and  women  whom  we  meet 
about  the  world,  which  might  often  accord  with  the  type 
required  by  an  artist  to  carry  out  an  imaginative  conception, 
or  that  careful  studies  from  such  examples  might  not  be 
valuable,  but  that  the  treatment  in  the  ideal  work  itself  must 
be  different,  an  appearance  of  direct  portraiture  being  out 
of  place.  He  believes  that  working  from  models,  in  a  spirit 
of  merely  copying  faithfully  what  is  before  the  eye,  is  de- 
structive to  the  harmony  which  ought  to  exist  between  an 
imaginative  conception  and  the  carrying  of  it  out  in  a  form 
of  art.  He  has,  therefore,  on  principle,  never  used  models 
in  the  same  way  that  modern  artists  use  them.     When  he 


122       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

has  been  struck  with  any  remarkable  form  or  colour,  he  has 
endeavoured  to  master  the  source  of  the  impression  of  beauty- 
made  on  him.  He  has  drawn  careful  studies  in  order  to 
find  out  in  what  consists  the  particular  variation  of  the 
ordinary  proportion  which  has  produced  the  effect  on  his 
mind  of  uncommon  beauty  ;  but  he  has  never  inserted  an 
actual  imitation  either  of  face  or  form  directly  into  an 
imaginative  work.  Necessarily,  in  following  out  this  prin- 
ciple, he  has  had  to  relinquish  a  certain  kind  of  finish  and 
imitation  of  nature  which  those  who  care  for  minutiae  in 
painting"  will  miss  in  his  work.  The  endeavour  to  carry 
out  this  principle  has  necessitated,  as  it  always  must,  a 
very  laborious  and  incessant  study  of  the  unvarying  laws 
which  govern  form  and  the  principles  on  which  are  based 
the  effect  of  line,  colour,  and  tone  in  nature ;  for,  of  course, 
knowledge  is  the  more  necessary  the  less  the  artist  copies 
directly  from  nature.  In  the  technical  part  of  his  art,  Mr. 
Watts  does  not  strive  to  produce  an  effect  by  painting  a//a 
prima.  Certain  portraits  he  has  painted  in  at  once.  Mr. 
Leslie  Stephen's  portrait  was  painted  in  one  sitting  of  about 
two  hours  ;  Lord  Shrewsbury's  in  a  sitting  of  an  hour,  to 
show  a  friend  how  to  begin  a  head  in  oil  painting ;  but  in 
none  of  his  subject-pictures  has  he  ever  attempted  to  pro- 
duce the  effect  he  desired  in  a  single  painting.  His  feeling 
has  always  been  the  same  as  that  of  Titian  described  by 
Boschini  in  the  following  words  :  "  He  (Titian)  never  did 
a  figure  at  once  {alia  prt?na),  and  used  to  say  that  any  one 
who  improvised  {cheachi  canta  all'  unprovvtso)  could  never 
make  verses  that  were  profound  or  really  well  put  together." 
The  art  which  Mr.  Watts  has  cared  for,  which  he  has 
thought  worthy  of  the  immense  labour  which  really  good 
painting  and  sculpture  involves,  is  the  art  which  is  profound, 
which  contains   that  element  which  appeals  to  the  noblest 


FIGURE,  REPRESENTING  POETRY 
From  "Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


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FIGURE,  REPRESENTING  SCIENCE 
From  "Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  "Watts 


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FIGURE,  REPRESENTING  THE  ARTS 
From  Wall  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  123 

and  deepest  sensibilities  in  human  nature  and  to  the  imagina- 
tion ;  the  art  which  is  consonant  with  great  music  and  great 
poetry,  and  which  implies  an  association  with  great  ideas. 
He  feels  that  realistic  art,  as  modern  schools  understand  it, 
can  never  be  this.  It  may  amuse,  interest,  and  cultivate 
the  perceptive  faculties,  but  it  does  not  set  the  mind  going, 
on  further  and  higher  lines,  and  awakens  in  the  mind  no 
thoughts  of  its  own.  It  merely  suggests  the  effect  of  a 
moment  seized  by  the  artist  with  "disinterested  curiosity" 
(the  admirable  expression  used  by  Matthew  Arnold  with 
reference  to  the  work  of  literary  realists),  and,  finding  no 
echo  in  the  heart  and  imagination  of  future  generations,  it 
will  not  live.  For  we  must  remember  that  what  is  real  to 
us  in  the  art  of  the  past  is  that  element  which  was  the  result 
of  efforts  of  imagination  and  an  expression  of  deep  feeling. 
The  work  of  Michael  Angelo,  Titian,  Dante,  Shakespeare, 
is  the  reality  of  its  time  to  us.  In  those  faithful  por- 
traits found  on  many  tombs  throughout  Italy ;  in  all  the 
portraits  painted  in  times  when  art  has  really  been  alive,  is 
there  not  a  record  of  lovingness  in  the  doing  of  the  work 
which  gives  a  nobility  to  the  quaintest  of  physiognomies  ? 
No  art  or  literature  which  speaks  to  us  vividly  out  of  the 
past  was  ever  inspired  solely  by  "disinterested  curiosity." 
The  artist  whom  Plato,  in  his  "  Phsedrus,"  puts  in  the  first 
category,  in  classing  conditions  of  men,  is  not,  surely,  one 
who  amuses  and  interests  us  for  the  moment  only.  The 
artist  whose  soul,  according  to  Plato,  has  come  to  birth 
seeing  most  of  truth,  should  be  one,  surely,  whose  influence 
is  deep  and  lasting ;  one  who  has  endeavoured  to  touch  the 
mainsprings  of  thought  and  feeling  in  human  nature ;  one 
who  can  never  be  in  or  out  of  fashion,  but  always  real  and 
living.  The  art  which  revives  afresh  and  responds  to  the 
wants  and  feelings  of  every  new  generation,  is  the  truly  real 


124       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

art — the  real  artists,  those  whose  lines  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing were,  in  essentials,  of  no  special  date.  The  ground  they 
worked  on,  common  ground  in  all  civilised  ages  for  all  human 
nature,  their  horizon  not  hemmed  in  or  completely  governed 
by  the  incidents  of  any  present.  Mr.  Watts'  aim  has  been 
to  express  in  his  art  the  thoughts  and  feelings  which  have 
moved  him  seriously  ;  to  echo  in  his  life's  work  all  that  he 
feels  as  noblest  and  best.  His  is  essentially  serious  art, 
and  any  failure  there  may  be  in  it  is  certainly  not  owing  to 
a  want  of  earnestness  in  the  pursuit  of  the  best,  or  to  an 
inadequacy  of  aim,   or  any  lack  of  devotion. 

A  few  very  distinct  principles  Mr.  Watts  holds  as  regards  the 
best  method  of  painting.  The  ground  of  all  painting  should 
be  kept  as  light  as  possible  because  what  is  underneath  will 
always  have  a  tendency  to  show  through  more  and  more, 
the  older  the  picture  becomes.  The  tendency  of  oil  being 
to  blacken  as  time  goes  on,  a  counteracting  influence  of 
a  light  ground  is  necessary  to  prevent  the  picture  becoming 
too  dark.  Again,  in  putting  on  the  colour  there  should  never 
be  anything  like  a  smear  in  painting  ;  an  edge,  however  soft 
and  delicate,  should  be  distinct  and  clean.  Between  each 
painting  the  colour  should  be  allowed  to  dry  thoroughly  and 
not  be  retouched  till  it  is  quite  hard.  This,  he  believes,  is 
the  only  means  by  which  anything  like  freshness  can  be 
retained  in  the  quality  when  there  is  more  than  one  painting. 
He  also  believes  that  the  purer  the  tint  can  be  put  on  the 
better,  the  modifying  and  gradating  it  being  left  for  an  after 
process  and  only  added  when  the  first  layer  of  paint  is  quite 
dry,  as  the  pure  colour  will  then  always  shine  through  more 
freshly  than  when  it  is  mixed  with  others  while  wet. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  125 

DESCRIPTION  OF  SOME  OF  THE  PICTURES  SENT 

TO  AMERICA. 

"  The  Happy  Warrior'' ;  date,  1884. 

To  do  the  most  a  soldier  can  do  for  his  country,  to  die 
for  it,  and  in  dying  to  see  a  vision  of  his  love  bending  over 
him  and  kissing  his  brow,  is  the  meaning  the  artist  intends  to 
convey  by  the  title  he  has  given  this  picture. 

"  Not  conquered  he  who  sinks  upon  the  field, 
Consents  to  die,  consenting  not  to  yield, 
Whose  steadfast  heart  death  perils  cannot  move, 
True  to  his  faith,  his  duty,  and  his  love." 

**  Paolo  and  Francesca.'' 

The  design   of  this  picture  was  begun  many  years  ago. 

Since  it  was  exhibited  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  in  the  year 

1882,  the  artist  has  almost  repainted  it.     He  now  considers 

it  quite  finished.     The  pale  spirits  of  Paolo  and  Francesca 

are  whirled  in  the  hurricane  of  the  second  circle  of  Dante's 

"Inferno" — 

"  Th'  Infernal  hurricane,  that  knows  no  sleep, 
Propels  the  spirits  with  its  ruinous  force, 
Whirls,  smites,  torments  them  in  its  reckless  sweep. 
As  through  the  air  doves  to  the  cherished  nest, 
With  wings  firm  set  and  wide  expanded,  fly, 
By  loving  instinct  borne  along,  and  press'd, 
So  forth  came  these  from  Dido's  company. 
Speeding  their  way  through  the  dim  air  malign, 
So  potent  spake  the  tender,  loving  cry." 

The  artist  has  endeavoured  to  record  in  the  countenances 
of  these  lovers  their  hopeless,  tender  love  abiding  through 
endless  suffering  ;  the  passion  of  love  imprinted  for  ever 
on  their  souls,  to  be  traced  now  only  through'the  vaporous 
atmosphere  of  a  spirit-world.     Memory  in  these  pale  spirits, 


126       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

retaining  a  full  consciousness  of  past  joy,  only  adds  acuter 

suffering  to  present  pain. 

"  No  pain  can  greater  prove 
Than  the  remembrance  of  past  joys  to  wake 
When  suffering." 

Francesca's  head  leans  on  her  lover's  shoulder ;  both 
faces  are  dimmed  by  the  ashy  pallor  of  a  death  passed 
through.  With  joined  hands  and  arms  clasped  round  each 
other,  they  are  being  whirled  like  faded  leaves  before  the 
wind,  their  drapery  caught  back  into  the  turbid  currents  of 
sulphurous  gloom,  into  "  La  bit/era  infernal.'' 

Inseparably  are  Paolo  and  Francesca  linked  together. 
Dante  so  far  respected  their  passion  that,  in  ordaining  their 
punishment,  he  spares  them  at  least  the  pain  of  separation. 
Still  he  means  that  their  endless  suffering  should  be  so  ever 
present,  the  joy  of  the  past  so  vividly  remembered,  and  yet 
so  irrecoverable,  that  while  Francesca  is  describing  how  their 
love  awakened,  Dante  is  so  overcome  with  pity  that  he 
swoons  as  one  dead. 

"  The  whiles  this  sad  one  spirit,  th'  other  so 
Wept,  that  heart-struck  with  pity's  tender  force, 
I  swooned,  as  if  in  life's  expiring  throe. 
And  fell,  as  falls  upon  the  earth  a  corse." 

This  picture,  and  the  "  Fata  Morgana,"  are  the  only  two 
the  artist  has  ever  painted  which  are  simply  illustrations  of 
written  poems. 

"  Orpheus  and  Eurydicey 

This  picture  was  painted  some  years  ago,  but  it  has  been 
nearly  repainted  since  it  was  exhibited  in  France  and  in 
the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  in  1882,  the  object  in  so  doing 
being  to  get  rid  of  everything  approaching  to  black  in  the 
colouring. 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  127 

Orpheus,  too  impatient  to  wait,  turns  back,  contrary  to 
his  promise,  to  see  if  Eurydice  is  following  him  out  of 
Hades.  Eurydice  is  instantly  struck  and  caught  back  into 
the  shades  of  the  spirit  world.  She  does  not  die  nor  swoon, 
but  her  fate  snatches  her  from  the  light  of  the  world  she 
was  emerging  into,  back  into  the  gloom  and  twilight  of 
Hades.  In  vain,  letting  fall  his  lyre,  Orpheus  encircles  her 
with  his  arm ;  the  powers  that  foretold  her  fate,  should 
he  once  turn  till  he  passed  beyond  the  gates  of  Hades,  have 
stricken  her. 

"  lime,  Deaths  and  Judgment''  {commenced  many 

years  ago). 

Figures  of  heroic  size  represent  these  three  powerful 
agencies,  Time,  Death,  and  Judgment.  Time  is  painted 
as  one  possessed  of  unalterable  youth,  nude  to  the  waist, 
holding  forward  a  scythe  in  his  right  hand.  Death  is 
represented  by  the  figure  of  a  woman,  amply  draped.  They 
are  wading  hand  in  hand  together  through  the  waves  of 
the  stream  of  life.  The  eyes  of  Time  are  stony,  with  an 
unchangeable,  never-failing  youth  ;  not  cruel,  only  heedless 
of  what  may  happen  as  he  inevitably  presses  forward, 
pausing  neither  to  inflict,  to  spare,  nor  to  mend.  He  is 
represented  as  advancing  in  strides,  marking  the  recurrence 
of  conditions — the  hours,  days,  months,  and  years.  Death, 
his  inevitable  mate,  glides  silently  by  his  side,  doing  her 
work  at  unexpected,  uncalculated  moments.  Her  lap  is 
full  of  gathered  flawers,  buds,  blossoms,  faded  leaves,  all 
together,  fulfilling,  as  she  goes,  her  mysterious  mission  of 
gathering  to  herself  the  young,  the  old,  the  middle-aged, 
indiscriminately,  it  would  seem,  but  with  the  unswerving 
certainty  of  fate,   irrespective  of  all   human   calculations  or 


128       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

desires.  Behind,  in  the  wake  of  Time  and  Death,  flies  the 
no  less  inevitable  Nemesis,  her  face  hidden  by  the  out- 
stretched arm  which  carries  the  deciding  scales.  In  her 
other  hand  she  grasps  the  avenging  sword,  and  her  flame- 
coloured  drapery  flies,  like  a  track  of  fire,  back  into  blue 
space,  where  revolve  the  golden  sun,  and  the  pale  crescent 
moon,  "  Earth's  dead  child."  This  is  a  picture  the  influence 
of  which  would  probably  be  best  felt  were  it  seen  in  a  niche 
by  itself,  in  a  cloister  or  a  church,  not  in  an  art  gallery 
or  museum.  The  artist  has  allowed  this  design  to  be  carried 
out  in  a  mosaic  which  is  to  be  placed  on  the  Church  of  St. 
Jude's,  Whitechapel,  in  one  of  the  poorest  and  most  over- 
crowded districts  in  the  east  of  London, 

The  subject  of  this  picture,  though  one  of  the  simplest, 
and  expressing  the  most  plain  and  most  ever-present  truths, 
ought,  the  painter  has  thought,  to  be  one  of  the  most 
impressive,  and  on  no  other  picture  has  he  bestowed  more 
thought  or  labour.  The  treatment  is  broad,  and  suggests 
size.  The  figures  are  sculpturesque  in  character,  not  hewn 
out  of  smooth,  delicate  marble,  but  out  of  a  rough,  endur- 
ing adamant.  They  are  beings  who  move  in  larger  con- 
ditions than  those  encircling  humanity  ;  creatures  who  view 
a  wider  horizon  than  that  which  bounds  our  vision.  There- 
fore, these  powers,  though  imagined  in  the  form  of  human 
beings,  intentionally  do  not  suggest  the  men  and  women 
we  see  about  us,  but  a  Titanic  race  belonging  to  larger 
spheres  than  those  of  our  earth. 

"  The  Mid-day  Restr 

Painted  in  1864,  in  the  garden  of  the  old  Little  Holland 
House.  The  picture  of  the  Dray  Horses  is,  perhaps,  the  only 
purely  historical  work  which  the  artist  has  painted.    The  race 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  129 

of  splendid  animals,  of  which  these  two  are  fine  examples, 
will,  in  all  probability,  soon  cease  to  exist.  We  have  a  future 
before  us  of  steam,  electricity,  and  machinery,  which  will  do 
their  work  for  us.  We  have  here  a  record  of  a  typically 
English  sight.  In  painting  the  forms  of  this  grand-looking 
class  of  horse,  the  artist  has  endeavoured  to  suggest  the 
sense  of  repose  and  latent  power,  which  is,  or  rather  has 
been,  one  of  the  finest  characteristics  of  our  English  life,  but 
which  is  fast  waning  and  becoming  part  of  our  past.  We  are 
being  hurried  into  a  cosmopolitan  eagerness  and  excitability, 
and  every  year,  more  and  more,  are  the  restless  mites  and 
midges  of  the  sunshine  teasing  us  into  a  desire  to  emulate 
other  nations  by  striving  after  a  sort  of  cosmopolitan 
culture,  and  by  the  endeavour  to  make  our  habits  and 
manners  vivacious  and  demonstrative,  like  those  of  our 
friskier  French  neighbours.  But  round  the  huge  creatures 
and  their  stolid  driver,  painted  in  this  picture,  lingers  still 
the  atmosphere  of  peaceful  security  and  quiescence,  and  the 
phlegm  of  old-fashioned  English  life,  suggesting  a  certain 
grandeur  of  reposefulness  and  size.  Before  all  landmarks 
of  old  customs  and  habits  have  died  out,  before  another 
generation  has  arisen,  a  quite  new  Pharaoh,  "  who  knew  not 
Joseph,"  the  artist  has  thought  it  well  to  make  a  historical 
record  in  painting  of  such  a  characteristic  phase  of  English 
life,  which,  moreover,  gives  scope  for  a  study  of  the  magnifi- 
cent form  to  be  found  in  the  Brewer's  Dray  Horses. 

•*  Love  and  Life''  {the  cojnpaniofi  picture  to  "  Love 

and  Death  "). 

Begun  in  February  1884;  finished  in  June  1884.  The 
design  was  made  in  1883.  Love  is  represented  by  the 
winged  figure  of  a  youth,  and  Life  by  that  of  a  young  girl, 


I30       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

who,  clinging  to  Love,  is  being  guided  by  him  over  the 
rough  places  of  a  rocky  precipice  which  both  are  ascending 
together.  Love  is  leading  the  way,  and  helping  Life,  by 
his  support  and  tenderness,  to  climb  the  difficult  path — 
emblematic  of  the  struggling  conditions  which,  more  or  less, 
are  the  portion  of  all  human  existence.  The  half-extended 
wings  of  Love  shade  the  rays  of  light  from  beating  too 
fiercely  on  the  delicate  figure  of  Life.  Love's  footsteps 
can  be  traced  on  the  rocky  ascent  by  the  daisy  flowers 
which  have  sprung  up  in  his  track.  The  atmosphere  of 
the  picture  is  bathed  in  the  gold  of  light  and  the  blue  of 
space.  As  the  figures  ascend,  the  air  becomes  more  golden 
with  light.  Love,  while  helping  to  endure  and  overcome 
the  struggles  of  existence,  leads  upward  into  purer,  brighter 
conditions.  The  truth  which  the  artist  has  tried  to  embody 
in  this  picture,  is  that  Love,  in  its  widest,  most  universal 
sense — in  the  sense  of  charity,  sympathy,  and  unselfishness 
— raises  Life  upward  ;  that  humanity  is  helped  by  tender 
aid  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  tender  trust  on  the  other.  He 
has  purposely  kept  the  picture  light  and  simple,  and  the 
figure  representing  Life  fragile  and  slight.  Poor  humanity 
is  so  frail  a  thing,  in  the  midst  of  what  Carlyle  calls  the 
'*  Immensities,"  without  the  strength  which  Love  alone  can 
give ! 

"  Ariadfie'' ;  lent  by  Louisa,  Lady  Ashburton. 

The  particular  time  in  the  story  of  Ariadne  which  the 
artist  has  chosen,  is  later  on  than  that  chosen  by  Titian  in 
his  famous  picture  of  "  Bacchus  and  Ariadne,"  in  the 
National  Gallery  in  London.  Oblivious  of  her  union  with 
Bacchus,  Ariadne  is  rapt  in  a  reverie  while  looking  out  into 
the  blue  mists  of  distant  sea,  into  which  the  deserter  Theseus 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  131 

has  vanished.  A  sense  of  queenliness  is  meant  to  be  ex- 
pressed in  her  form  and  attitude.  Her  arms  fall  listlessly 
by  her  side,  and  she  does  not  heed  the  touch  of  the  bright 
maiden  who  comes  through  the  wood  behind  her  from  the 
gay  train  of  Bacchus  to  remind  her  of  the  revels,  and  to 
summon  her  again  to  join  the  jovial  company.  The  panthers 
that  belong  to  the  rout  of  Bacchus  play  at  her  feet. 


*' Chaos'' ;  date,  1882. 

This  sketch  was  sent  because  the  design  of  it  is  the  first 
in  a  series  of  designs  which,  in  their  entirety,  the  artist  had 
hoped  to  carry  out  as  the  principal  work  of  his  life.  His 
intention  was  to  describe  the  story  of  mankind  as  it  comes  to 
us  through  biblical,  mythical,  poetical,  and  verifiable  history, 
viewing  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  present  time.  This  he 
designed  with  the  intention  of  carrying  it  out  on  an  heroic 
scale,  round  the  walls  of  a  great  hall  or  room,  and  would 
gladly  have  done  so  without  remuneration,  had  the  oppor- 
tunity been  afforded  him.  That  it  was  not,  was  the  great 
regret  of  his  life ;  for  not  only  the  encouragement,  but  the 
means  of  carrying  out  this  work  being  denied  him,  he  felt 
he  had  never  been  able  to  express  himself  fully  in  his  own 
special  language  of  art.  He  felt  he  had  missed  giving  utter- 
ance to  the  conceptions  which  were  the  best  he  was  capable 
of,  in  the  form  which  would  have  best  suited  his  powers, 
and  that,  instead  of  having  produced  a  complete  work,  only 
fragments  remain  to  show  the  direction  of  his  scheme. 

In  the  design  before  us  we  have  what  may  stand  as  the 
opening  chapter  of  the  book.  On  the  left  is  represented 
the  period  of  violence,  the  upheaving  and  disturbance  pre- 
vious  to  the   regular  course  of  things  establishing  itself  in 


132       REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

our  planet.  This  passes  in  the  middle  of  the  picture  into 
an  indefinite  period,  a  vaporous  uncertainty  of  atmosphere, 
of  unborn  creations.  Light  is  still  veiled  by  mists,  and  air 
and  waters  mingle.  Here  and  there  a  figure  in  the  swollen 
tides  marks  the  beginning  of  the  strides  of  time.  In  the 
third  part  of  the  picture,  colossal  forms,  silent  and  quiescent, 
symbols  of  mountain  ranges,  suggest  an  established  state  of 
things.  The  current  of  time,  in  the  middle  part  of  the  com- 
position, indicated  by  detached  figures,  is  now  a  continuous 
stream.  The  artist's  desire  was  not  merely  to  repeat  the 
incidents  of  history  as  recorded  by  the  poets  and  as 
painted  by  the  old  masters,  but  to  interpret  the  story  of 
the  world  from  his  own  point  of  view,  including  in  the  in- 
terpretation a  modern  vein  of  thought  and  feeling,  and 
regarding  the  past  from  the  more  comprehensive  area  of 
modern  acquirement. 

Taking  a  large  view  of  the  important  incidents  of  the 
world's  history,  such  part  of  it  as  could  be  expressed  in  a 
pictorial  form,  he  hoped  to  have  painted  the  salient  points 
on  which  turned  the  changes  and  progress  of  the  world  as 
we  know  it,  and  to  have  described  the  past  by  the  light 
of  the  present ;  in  so  doing  to  create  in  his  own  time  an  art, 
comprehensive  enough  in  its  own  character  to  affect  the 
interests  of  all  times,  yet  special  enough  to  be  stamped  with 
the  fervour  of  contemporary  interest.  This  would  have  led 
the  composition  into  the  story  of  human  life.  A  few  frag- 
ments of  the  scheme  can  be  seen  in  the  designs  of  the 
"Creation  of  Eve,"  the  "Eve  Tempted,"  "Eve  Repentant," 
the  "Newly  Created  Eve,"  and  "Cain." 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  133 

LITTLE   HOLLAND   HOUSE   GALLERY. 

"  The  Creation  of  Eve'' 

Their  work  done,  the  angels  are  rising  into  h'ght,  singing 
a  chorus  of  praise.  One  is  touching  Adam  with  a  finger 
to  arouse  him  from  his  torpor.  The  companion  picture,  of 
which  a  photograph  has  been  sent,  is  "The  Denunciation 
of  Adam  and  Eve  "  after  their  trespass,  where  the  descending 
angels  contrast  with  the  ascending  angels  in  this  picture. 

"  Uldra  "  ;  painted  in  1884. 

Uldra  is  a  nymph-like  fairy,  a  Scandinavian  myth,  who 
is  supposed  to  be  only  visible  through  the  rainbow  of  dewy 
mists  and  fountains.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  best  example  of 
an  atmospheric  effect  in  a  figure-picture  among  Mr.  Watts' 
works.  Unfortunately,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  procure 
"The  Carrara  Mountains,"  or  the  "Island  of  Cos"  for  this 
exhibition,  as  the  owners  would  not  lend  them.  This  is 
to  be  regretted,  as  they  are  the  most  finished  examples  of 
painted  atmosphere  which  the  artist  has  made  in  land  and 
sea  subjects. 

"  Love  and  Death.'' 

Begun  about  the  year  1869,  worked  on  at  intervals  till 
within  the  last  nine  months.  This  picture  was  at  one  time 
in  a  more  finished  condition,  but  the  artist  painted  out  por- 
tions of  it  in  order  to  improve  it,  and,  owing  to  ill-health 
during  the  last  three  months  ( 1 882),  he  has  not  been  able  to  re- 
touch it,  as  he  wished  to  do,  before  sending  it.  The  idea  of 
this  picture  first  came  to  the  artist's  mind  about  fifteen  years 
ago.      He   was  then   painting  the  portrait  of  a  man  who, 


134       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

while  still  young,  and  showing  every  promise  of  becoming 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  time,  was  attacked 
by  a  lingering  and  fatal  illness.  The  portrait  was  continued 
at  intervals.  At  each  sitting  the  artist  felt  the  disease  had 
progressed  a  stage  nearer  the  end.  Everything  that  love 
could  do  opposed  it  in  vain.  Out  of  sympathy  for  the  sorrow 
of  those  who  had  striven  so  hard  and  so  fruitlessly  to  keep 
Death  at  bay,  arose  the  idea  of  the  subject  of  this  picture, 
"  Love  and  Death."  The  draped  figure,  whose  back  alone 
we  see,  who  is  meant  to  represent  a  messenger  of  Death,  is 
entering  through  the  doorway  of  a  home  where  Love  has 
reigned.  Love  meets  this  "shining  one"  (as  Bunyan  expressed 
it)  on  the  threshold,  and  thrusts  out  his  arm  to  oppose  the 
entrance  of  his  enemy.  The  solemn  figure  moves  forward 
notwithstanding,  as  it  were  inevitably,  rather  than  as  if  forcing 
a  way  ;  a  fatal  doom,  against  which  the  struggles  of  Love 
are  in  vain.  Death  overshadows  his  figure,  except  where 
a  few  bright  rays  of  colour  still  light  on  his  brow,  on  the 
roses  which  wreathe  it,  and  on  the  arm  which  clings  still 
to  the  doorway.  In  his  anguish  he  gazes  appealingly  up 
into  the  face  of  the  awful  stranger,  while  with  his  outstretched 
arm  he  attempts  to  resist  advance.  But,  with  wings  crushed, 
he  is  thrust  aside,  and  thrown  back  on  the  garlands  of  roses 
which  grow  round  the  entrance  of  his  dwelling.  Though 
w^e  do  not  see  his  enemy's  face,  we  are  not  meant  to  feel  it 
would  be  hideous,  however  awful.  This  messenger  is  but 
the  unswerving  agent  to  an  all-powerful  will  which  rules 
over  poor  humanity,  and,  in  the  fulfilment  of  whose  laws  the 
wounding  of  human  feeling,  however  deep,  and  pure,  and 
strong,  counts  as  no  obstacle.  The  intention  in  this  picture 
has  been  to  embody  in  a  pictorial  expression  a  suggestion 
of  the  world-old  mystery,  the  conflict  between  Love  and 
Death  ;  to  endeavour  to  transmit  by  form  and  colour  a  vision 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  135 

of  an  idea ;  to  suggest,  in  the  figure  of  Love,  beauty,  tender 
passion,  and  the  struggle  of  unavailing  anguish  ;  and  in  the 
figure  of  Death,  solemnity,  power,  irresistible  and  unconquer- 
able ;  also  an  echo  of  that  mystery  which  veils  the  unknown. 
Intentionally  has  the  character  and  style  of  the  work  been 
kept  as  monumental  as  possible ;  in  every  sense  the  very 
reverse  of  realistic. 

**  Found  Drowned!' 

Under  an  arch  of  Waterloo  Bridge,  in  London,  on  the 
mud  which  has  been  left  dry  by  the  receding  tide,  lies  a 
suicide.  The  subject  is  identical  with  that  of  Hood's  poem, 
but  was  not  taken  from  it,  but  suggested  by  an  incident 
seen  by  the  artist. 


<e 


The  Genius  of  Greek  Poetry  "  ,•  painted  in  1878. 


The  intention  of  the  artist  in  painting  this  picture  has 
been  to  endeavour  to  render  the  significance,  the  local  tone, 
and  especially  the  anthropomorphic  character  of  the  Genius 
of  Greek  poetry.  The  prominence  humanity  held  in  the 
Greek  mind,  the  association  of  the  effects  in  nature,  and  the 
entire  conditions  in  the  world  with  humanity  being  so  strong 
that  all  effects  and  moods  of  nature  weave  themselves  in 
his  imagination  into  semi  -  human  existences ;  the  winds 
and  currents,  the  hours  of  the  days,  the  earth,  sea,  and 
air,  all  natural  phenomena  he  invests  with  human  forms, 
attributes,  and  moods.  The  figure  seated  on  a  rock  is 
intended  to  be  an  emblem  of  this  Greek  Genius,  not  a 
Greek  man.  The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  picture  is 
steeped  in  warm,  golden  light,  shadowed  by  blue  haze  on 
the    sea   and    sky,    but    deeper   and  more   glowing   on    the 


136       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

foreground,  figure,  and  rocks,  indicative  of  the  enjoyment  of 
southern  warmth  and  light  and  air.  This  picture  would  be 
more  easily  explained  were  the  pendant  picture  beside  it, 
"  The  Genius  of  Northern  Poetry,"  darker,  more  mysterious, 
less  human  in  attributes  than  the  Greek  Genius. 


"  Cain:' 

Designs  for  the  life-size  composition  in  the  Diploma 
Gallery  at  Burlington  House,  Royal  Academy. 

The  figure  of  the  slain  Abel  lies  on  the  ground  while 
his  sacrifice  rises  in  a  pillar  of  flame  straight  up  to  Heaven. 
The  standing  figure  of  Cain  is  overshadowed  by  the  avengers 
who  swoop  down  upon  him.  These  may  be  understood  as 
the  voices  of  conscience. 


The  "  Eve  Tempted^* 

This  design  is  one  of  a  series  of  three,  of  which  photo- 
graphs have  been  sent  to  this  exhibition  in  order  to  show  the 
relative  place  of  the  picture  before  us.  In  the  first  design, 
"The  Newly  Created  Eve,"  the  figure  rises  column-like  in 
praise  and  delight  at  her  creation.  In  the  second,  "  Eve 
Tempted,"  she  bends  forward  toward  the  fruit  which  is 
tempting  her,  not  plucking  it,  but  allowing  herself  to  be 
allured  by  the  seductive  fragrance  ;  and  in  the  third  she  has 
thrown  herself  against  the  stem  of  a  tree,  her  hands  clasped 
above  her  head,  her  figure  shrouded  by  her  hair.  The 
first  and  third  were  not  sufficiently  finished  to  send.  All 
three  figures  are  colossal  in  size,  and  represent  a  type 
which  may  suggest  the  mother  of  all  the  human  race.  The 
colour  in  the  "  Newly  Created  Eve  "  is  glowing  and  golden  . 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  137 

in  the  "Eve  Tempted,"  more  intricate  and  jewel-like; 
in  the  "  Eve  Repentant,"  shaded  blue  and  saddened  into 
twilight. 

"  When  Poverty  comes  in  at  the  Door,  Love  flies  out  oj 
the  Window  "  ;  painted  in  1879. 

Love  is  poised  on  the  sill  of  the  open  window  with  out- 
spread wings,  just  starting  to  fly  away,  for  the  door  is  being 
opened  by  haggard  Poverty,  followed  in  his  wake  by  the 
wolf  Hunger.  Through  the  opening,  dry  dead  leaves  are 
whirling  into  the  room  before  him.  Meantime  a  little  lady 
is  still  futilely  playing  on  a  couch  with  her  rose-leaves.  Her 
cupboard  door,  with  broken  hinge,  hangs  untidily  above 
her ;  her  work  lies  upset,  all  strewn  and  tangled  on  the 
floor ;  idleness  and  carelessness  accounting  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  ugly  visitor.  The  picture  is  on  a  smaller  scale 
than  that  on  which  the  artist  usually  works,  and  is  painted 
chiefly  in  water-colour. 

'*  The  Dove  that  Returned  not  Again  "  ;  painted  in  1878. 

This  is  the  companion  picture  of  "The  Dove  returning 
to  the  Ark,"  which,  owing  to  its  being  painted  on  panel, 
could  not  be  sent  to  America.  The  flood  is  subsiding,  and 
the  dove  has  found  a  branch  of  a  tree  to  rest  on.  The 
ivy-leaves  that  cling  to  it  are  sodden  and  brown,  and,  caught 
in  a  fork  of  the  stem,  are  remnants  of  drapery  and  jewels, 
tokens  of  the  flood.  The  cloudy  vapours  have  lifted  ;  there 
is  an  awakening  of  light  and  colour,  still  misty  and 
young,  like  the  blue  eye  of  a  child  when  it  first  wakes  into 
the  life  and  movement  of  the  day.  Nature  is  readjusting 
herself  to  a  brighter,  happier  mood.      It  is  a  contrast  to  its 


i-,8       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 


J 


companion  picture,  where  the  monotony  of  the  heavy  swollen 
tides,  receding  away  to  the  horizon,  is  only  varied  by  the 
changes  which  distance  gives  to  the  wide  spaces  of  the 
waters  and  to  the  gray  of  a  sullen,  hopeless  sky.  In  this 
picture  the  dove  is  seeking  a  refuge  in  the  shelter  of  the 
ark  ;  in  the  one  before  us  the  dove  has  found  its  home 
under  the  wider  shelter  of  the  sky. 


"THE    DUALITY   OF   MY   NATURE." 

It  was  respecting  this  exhibition  in  America  that  a  mis- 
understanding arose  which  caused  an  angry  correspondence 
in  the  newspapers  in  New  York  between  two  eager 
combative  critics.  Each  had  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
was  acting  as  Watts'  mouthpiece,  and  naturally  resented 
this  attitude  being  disputed  by  the  other.  One  of 
these  gentlemen  wrote  indignant  letters  to  Watts,  using 
harsh  terms  as  to  his  conduct  in  the  matter.  This  dis- 
pute caused  Watts  great  disturbance  and  distress.  He 
was  at  Brighton  at  the  time  when  the  anger  of  the  two 
critics  flared  out  in  print  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  on  most  days  letters  would  be  written  to 
me  on  the  subject.  In  analysing  his  own  character  in  con- 
versation, he  would  often  express  himself  puzzled  by  the 
"  duality  of  my  nature."  He  wrote  in  a  letter  recounting 
this  misunderstanding  with  his  critics,  "  You  know  how 
often  I  have  spoken  of  the  extraordinary  duality  of  my 
nature."  He  further  wrote  he  did  not  think  there  was  any 
one  in  the  world  who  more  desired  the  best  than  he  did,  nor 
whose  eyes  were  more  earnestly  fixed  on  the  good  and  true 
and  noble,  in  fact,  whose  every  sense  was  more  in  harmony 
with    the    best    he    tried  to    suggest    in    his    work ;    yet   a 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  139 

nervous  irritability  was  always  putting  him  in  the  wrong, 
while  his  sense  of  justice  was  as  surely  afflicting  him  with 
the  heaviest  of  penalties,  the  loss  of  his  own  esteem.  To 
such  an  extent  was  this  the  case  that  he  wearied  of  the 
world,  and  had  long  begun  to  count  the  years  that  would 
bring  the  end  nearer,  with  satisfaction.  He  had  long  ceased 
to  hope  that  he  could  ever  do  more  in  his  art  than  indicate 
how  much  more  he  desired  to  do.  He  then  proceeds  to 
describe  every  detail  of  the  imbroglio,  beginning  by  say- 
ing I   had  been   quite  right  in  warning  him  against  having 

any    transaction    with    .^       After    describing     minutely 

the  transaction  in  question,  he  wrote  pages  and  pages 
expressing  his  remorse.  He  had  been  most  wrong,  very 
wrong  indeed.  He  could  not  tell  you  how  this  feeling 
poisoned  his  moments. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  this  excessive  remorse  was  caused 
by  Watts  having  very  much  exaggerated  to  himself  the 
importance  of  the  whole  transaction.  With  certain  people 
he  was  not  safe.  There  seemed  to  be  a  link  wanting  in 
his  instincts.  The  critic  who  wrote  him  the  angry  letter 
was  not  in  fault,  and  indeed  had  very  just  cause,  from 
his  point  of  view,  to  be  angry  with  Watts.  Any  judicious 
friend  who  possessed  Watts'  confidence  must  have  found 
that  in  most  business  transactions  he  required,  so  to  speak, 
to  be  protected  against  himself  His  want  of  memory,  except 
in  all  that  pertained  to  his  art,  and  the  fact  that  he  devoted 
all  the  best  of  his  mind  to  his  art,  made  him  at  times 
extraordinarily  forgetful  in  ordinary  everyday  transactions  ; 
but  doubtless  the  chief  difficulties  of  his  life  were  caused  by 

^  This  warning  I  had  given  Watts,  not  from  any  unfriendliness  or  distrust  of 
the  critic  in  question,  but  because  I  felt  convinced  that  he  and  Watts  would  not 
understand  each  other,  and  that  a  "  fuss "  might  arise,  and  fusses  created  the 
worst  possible  atmosphere  for  Watts  and  for  his  work. 


I40       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

what  he  described  himself  as  a  nervous  irritability  always 
putting  him  in  the  wrong.  As  I  said  before,  neither  Mr. 
Barrington  nor  I  ever  once  saw  this  irritability  evince  itself 
as  far  as  our  personal  relations  with  him  were  concerned. 
There  were  also  intricacies  in  his  nature  which  made  it  very 
difficult  for  him  to  steer  clear  of  rocks  which  it  was  his  most 
genuine  intention  to  avoid.  Among  the  many  causes  which 
led  to  a  deep-seated  melancholy  in  him,  this  "duality,"  this 
consciousness  of  inconsistency,  may  probably  have  been  the 
greatest. 

His  want  of  memory  entangled  him  in  one  of  these 
irritations  some  time  before  the  "critics"  disturbance.  We 
were  in  Somerset  when,  in  the  autumn  of  1855,  I  received 
a  letter  saying  that  the  weather  was  "  dreadful "  for  painting, 
but  that  it  would  matter  little  to  him,  as  he  was  seriously 
thinking  it  might  be  necessary  for  him  to  leave  this  country 
altogether.  He  added  that  we  knew  that  his  desire  and 
object  were  to  have  no  trouble  about  money,  but  to  paint 
his  pictures  with  the  view  of  making  them  public  property. 
The  income-tax  people  were  bothering  him,  and  he  found 
that  it  was  very  possible  he  might  be  charged  upon  the 
valuation  of  the  work  he  did,  and  that  he  had  done.  This 
would  be  simply  ruinous,  and  more  than  he  could  possibly 
meet,  in  which  case  he  would  sell  his  house  and  go  to  live 
and  work  in  Italy.  "  I  don't  know  what  party,  confound 
them  both,  is  responsible  for  such  a  state  of  things.  Per- 
mission to  work!  Really,  it  is  too  bad.  As  to  working 
for  money  any  more,  I  cannot,  and  will  not. — Signor."  I 
answered  that  I  hoped  he  would  let  us  know  the  train  and 
boat  he  was  leaving  by,  that  we  might  see  him  off!  On 
returning  to  London  we  discussed  this  income-tax  matter 
with  a  mutual  friend  who  was  then  sitting  for  his  portrait 
to   Watts,    and    a   representation   was    made    to    the    Inland 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  141 

Revenue  people,  proving  that  no  income-tax  ought  to  be 
charged  on  Watts'  gallery  and  studios,  as  he  was  making 
no  income  out  of  their  contents.  The  whole  matter  was 
en  train,  and  a  successful  solution  was  about  to  be  secured, 
when  Watts  suddenly  recollected  that  he  had  sold  pictures 
that  year,  and  our  case  naturally  broke  down.  There  was 
always  the  chance  of  an  interesting  surprise  with  Watts. 
Respecting  the  baronetcy  he  was  offered,  he  allowed  his 
friends  three  days  in  which  to  congratulate  him  ;  then  he 
let  it  be  announced  that  he  had  refused  it.  With  regard  to 
this  refusal  much  has  been  written  and  said.  The  truth  of 
the  matter  was  very  simple,  and  had  no  reference  whatever 
to  any  dislike  Watts  had  of  receiving  the  title.  He  told  me 
the  reason  why  he  refused  the  honour,  and  though  we  were 
disappointed,  we  could  not  dispute  his  wisdom  in  having  done 
so.  Leighton,  to  whom  Watts  was  indebted  for  the  offer 
having  been  made,  was  likewise  disappointed  when  he  refused, 
but  Watts  told  him  also  the  real  reason  for  his  doing  so. 
Leighton  discussed  the  whole  matter  with  Mr.  Barrington 
and  myself  a  few  days  later,  and  agreed  with  us  that  Watts' 
reason  for  refusing  the  baronetcy  was  conclusive.  He  was 
not  indifferent  to  worldly  distinctions,  and  never  for  a 
moment  pretended  when  with  us  that  he  was  so,  saying, 
moreover,  that  he  would  have  liked  much  to  have  belonged 
to  the  aristocracy  of  his  country  ;  that  it  was  an  institution 
which  he  considered  of  great  value  to  a  nation,  not  only 
from  its  picturesqueness,  but  from  the  intrinsic  good  which 
its  influence  carried  with  it  when  worthily  used ;  that 
a  class  which  had  not  the  burden  of  material  anxieties 
had  the  blessing  of  a  leisure  at  its  command  which,  if 
used  for  the  good  of  the  community  at  large,  conduced 
greatly,  he  considered,  to  the  true  nobility  of  a  nation. 
He  would  add  that  the  people,  he  had  found,  who  abused 


142       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

the  aristocracy  most,  were  those  who  exaggerated  the  im- 
portance of  belonging  to  the  class,  and  made  its  position  a 
subject  of  envy. 

"  I  should  like  to  go  into  a  monastery,"  are  the  words 
that  end  one  of  the  letters  in  which  he  deplores  the 
duality  of  his  nature.  Certainly,  no  one  more  than  Watts 
could  perceive  with  a  finer  instinct  the  true  proportion 
of  things  —  the  difference  which  lay  between  the  really 
great  and  the  small  things  of  this  world ;  no  one  could 
desire  more  to  live  solely  in  the  great  and  worthy  side  of 
life  ;  still,  he  would  not  always  leave  the  little  things  en- 
tirely alone.  In  the  large  things  he  was  always  right  (pro- 
vided he  was  not  evilly  influenced),  in  the  small — scarcely 
ever!  For  the  large  he  had  the  glory  of  inspiration  and 
enthusiasm  within  himself  to  guide  him  ;  in  the  small — 
no  safe  rules,  no  commonplace  theories,  no  habit  of  the 
world's  jog-trot  ways.  As  there  were  frayed  edges  to  his 
touch  in  painting^  (and  one  had  only  to  try  to  copy  Watts' 
work  to  realise  how  apparently  uncertain,  though  so  pur- 
poseful, were  those  edges),  so  were  there  frayed  edges  to 
the  mind  that  he  brought  to  bear  on  things  outside  his 
studio.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  frayed  edges  of  his  mind 
were  not  also  at  times  kept  purposely  frayed.  When  once 
within  the  workshop,  however,  the  door  closed  on  the  dual 
self.  Alone,  before  his  easel,  he  was  consistent — the  lofty 
thinker,  the  sensitive  seer,  the  sincere  workman.  Outside 
that  door  he  was  content  to  leave  things  vague,  unthought 
out.     He  did  not  always  care  for  a  spade   to   be  called   a 

^  The  treatment  in  Watts'  painting  was  a  happy  combination  of  the  definite 
and  the  indefinite,  form  and  construction  being  realised  and  expressed  with  great 
knowledge  and  precision,  while  the  actual  touch  was  loose  and  free,  allowing  for 
the  sense  of  atmosphere  which  floats  around  all  objects  seen  by  the  eye.  There 
was  never,  however,  a  smudged  outline  or  confusion  of  one  form  with  another  in 
his  work. 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  143 

spade.  Focalising  light  on  bare  facts  would  at  times  "  disturb 
impressions,"  and  would  raise  the  discomforting  idea  that  he 
ought  to  give  his  mind  to  business.  He  preferred  some 
matters  to  be  left  toned  in  half  shadow  ;  were  they  brought 
into  strong  daylight  he  would  have  to  face  and  grapple 
with  them.  There  is  a  tendency  to  a  species  of  mental 
inebriation  in  those  possessed  of  the  creative  faculty.  Such 
a  tendency  was  apparent  in  Watts'  condition,  not  only  when 
he  was  inspired  to  create  expressions  in  art,  but  also  when 
he  turned  his  imagination  on  to  situations  in  real  life.  At 
such  times  bare,  naked  truth  was  not  always  what  he  cared 
to  face — too  much  explicitness  disturbed  and  put  things  out 
of  tune  with  the  imaginative  pictures  he  had  made  of  a 
situation.  When  once,  however,  the  charm  and  influence 
of  the  picture  conjured  up  by  his  fancy  was  over,  and  his 
imagination  had  passed  on  to  other  fields  of  activity,  his 
deep-rooted  sense  of  justice  would  come  to  the  front.  From 
these  different  conditions  of  his  mind  confusions  naturally  not 
unfrequently  arose.  He  wrote  (February  1885)  that  I  am 
right  in  saying  that  he  was  not  a  man  of  business.  He  hoped 
that  he  would  never  have  anything  to  do  that  would  bring  him 
in  contact  with  what  is  called  the  world.  (I  had  been  trying 
to  persuade  him  to  drop  a  matter  that  was  annoying  him. 
He  had  been  ill,  and  was  seeing  things  for  the  time  out  of 
their  due  proportion.)  Illness,  he  said,  had  so  increased  his 
nervousness,  that  almost  everything  looked  like  a  "  bogey." 
He  could  not  read  a  book  with  any  story  without  being 
ridiculously  affected,  and  the  expression  of  a  baby's  face 
suggested  unutterable  things.  He  hoped  to  be  able  to  give 
himself  more  than  ever  to  the  endeavour  after  the  noblest 
side  of  art,  without  exhibiting  any  more,  or  having  any 
part  in  the  professional  contest.  Nevertheless,  notwith- 
standing this  apparent  inadequacy  to  cope  with  the  world's 


144       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

ways  when  his  vitality  was  lowered  by  depression,  Watts 
was  extraordinarily  clever.  His  mind  showed  itself  at  times 
as  being  a  very  ingenious  piece  of  machinery,  and  he  would 
even  prove  himself  capable  of  being  an  astute  man  of  busi- 
ness. Indeed,  he  seemed  to  possess  an  almost  unlimited  stock 
of  power  to  draw  from  if  once  sufficient  interest  in  a  subject 
was  aroused  for  him  to  focus  his  real  mind  on  it.  It  is  clearly 
obvious  that  he  steered  his  life  so  that  it  was  crowned  by 
great  worldly  success.  But  Watts  was  always  indulging  one 
in  the  unexpected — and  what  more  interesting  ?  Behind  this 
picture  of  success,  to  those  who  knew  him  best,  would  lurk 
the  shadow  of  a  more  real  being ;  the  melancholy,  truly  in- 
spired poet,  who  watched  the  pageant  of  his  upward  travelling 
life — the  outward  life  as  his  own  astute,  clever  ambition  was 
playing  it,  as  he  would  watch  the  rest  of  the  world's  hardness, 
self-interest,  and  success.  It  was  this  spirit  of  the  true  poet 
that  gave  us  those  glimpses,  through  the  veil,  and  behind 
what  we  call  reality,  into  the  primeval  and  permanent  facts  of 
the  universe,  and  to  man's  link  with  those  things  which  lie  at 
the  foundation  of  all  things  ;  maybe,  the  impetus  that  stirred 
the  imagination  of  the  Celt  to  its  profoundest  depths  and 
highest  flights,  was  the  tragic  sense  of  contrast  between  that 
shadow — his  inevitable  self — and  that  other  that  ever  spurred 
on  his  worldly  effort  and  ambition.  Behind  the  burning  am- 
bition, which  refused  to  be  satisfied  with  anything  but  the 
highest  place  for  his  art,  whether  appreciation  were  to  be 
attached  to  him  personally  or  to  one  unknown,  is  a  yet 
greater  artist  who  sees  the  true  and  eternal  proportion  in 
things  which  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  all  human  handicraft ; 
a  tender  soul  craving  for  sympathy  and  affection,  who  would 
fain  be  true  to  itself,  but  is  too  secretive,  too  shyly  ashamed 
of  its  own  sensibilities  for  it  to  play  its  full  worthy  part  in  a 
rough  world.     Truly,  as  Watts  said,  it  was  this  dual  nature 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  145 

which  created  those  confusions  of  which  he  writes  so  lengthily 
and  so  remorsefully.  He  was  scourged,  he  scourged  himself, 
by  the  plague  of  the  irreconcilable.  Somewhere  the  link 
was  wanting  which  should  have  harmonised  this  dual  nature. 
It  was  the  habit  of  procrastination,  and  a  want  of  courage 
which  he  so  often  deplored,  which  made  him  put  off  the  evil 
day,  and  which  caused  the  saddest  complications.  How 
often  would  a  little  courage  in  the  outset  have  obviated  many 
a  heart-burn !  But  Watts  was  never  a  hero  in  facing  dis- 
agreeable or  unflattering  situations  ;  and  yet,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  fight  of  the  critics  over  him,  he  would,  contrary  to 
all  advice,  persist  in  bringing  about  the  disturbing  influences 
himself,  and  no  one  could  help  him ! 

He  suffered  much  through  a  tender-hearted  sensitiveness 
and  sympathy  for  the  sorrows  of  others  as  well  as  his  own, 
— a  sensitiveness  too  painfully  felt  to  show  itself  or  to  be 
alluded  to,  except  on  rare  occasions,  when  an  unusual  vigour 
or  some  impetus  of  excitement  gave  him  the  courage  to 
unveil  it.  The  pain  of  pity  was  a  frequent  visitor.  After 
he  was  sixty  years  old  he  told  me  that,  looking  back  on  his 
life,  the  most  poignant  pain  he  could  remember  ever  having 
experienced  from  unhappiness  was  when  he  was  quite  a  little 
boy.  He  possessed  a  pet  canary,  which  he  had  taught  to  fly 
backwards  and  forwards  in  and  out  of  a  cupboard  as  he 
opened  and  shut  the  door,  the  canary  catching  a  seed  from 
his  lips  as  it  flew  out.  One  day,  alas !  he  shut  the  door  too 
quickly,  and  the  little  bird  was  crushed  in  it !  "  Nothing  has 
ever  been  to  me  like  the  pain  of  that  moment,"  Watts  said. 
"  I  have  been  through  a  good  deal,  but  that  was  the  really 
acutest  suffering  I  have  ever  felt,"  He  often  surprised  me  by 
the  great  patience  with  which  he  endured  the  inevitable — 
the  long  days  and  nights  of  illness  and  wearying  indisposition. 
It  was  difficult  to  realise  that  the  same  Watts,  who  could  be 

K 


146       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

overbalanced  by  a  comparatively  small  irritation,  and  excited 
and  agitated  to  a  degree  which  appeared  unreasonable  over 
a  little  worry,  was  the  same  who  could  meet  real  pain  and 
lonely  weariness  with  gentle,  dignified  patience,  truly  pathetic. 
When  we  were  obliged  to  be  in  the  country  during  part  of 
the  winter,  I  would  have  visions  of  that  lonely  figure  sitting, 
as  one  has  seen  a  sick  bird  sit  on  its  perch,  quite  immovable, 
and  with  an  almost  sightless,  beady  brightness  in  the  gaze 
of  the  dark  eye,  suffering  patiently  discomfort  and  weariness. 
His  doctors  would  urge  him  to  have  a  change,  and  became 
imperative  in  their  orders  after  a  long  illness  he  had  in  the 
winter  of  1885  ;  but  he  clung  to  his  studio,  to  his  work, 
which,  however,  he  was  often  too  ill  to  get  on  with. 

Two  disturbing  episodes  occurred  in  the  autumn  and 
winter  of  1885,  one  following  the  other  at  a  distance  of  a 
few  months.  The  letters  he  wrote  at  this  time  are  curiously 
interesting,  and  eminently  illustrative  of  his  dual  nature. 
There  were  reasons  why  Watts  did  not  himself  wish,  nor 
wish  me  to  break  with  the  person  who  had  caused  the 
second  disturbance.  I  was,  however,  obdurate  in  my  censure, 
being  indignant  at  having  by  this  person  been  most  un- 
necessarily dragged  into  this  disturbance,  the  character  of 
which  was  distasteful  to  me.  He  wrote — "in  the  ordinary 
course  of  human  affairs  you  will  outlive  me  many  a  long 
year  ;  do  not  allow  conscious  rectitude  to  make  you  prompt 
in  suspicion  and  harsh  in  judgment.  I  think  a  good  prin- 
ciple in  life  is  when  one  meets  with  faults  to  treat  them 
as  one  does  cripples — turn  one's  eyes  a  little  away  from 
them  unless  one  can  be  of  use."  He  continues  further  to  say 
that,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  "  some  excellent  qualities 
cannot  exist  without  a  disturbance  of  that  harmony  of 
character  we  desire — the  muscles  which  give  strength  to 
the  blacksmith's  arm  destroy  the  grace  of  line.     There  are 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  147 

people  who  assert  that  Shakespeare  was  a  drunkard  ;  and 
though  that  is  not  to  be  admitted  for  a  moment,  it  is  probable 
so  strong  a  nature  sometimes  kicked  over  the  traces." 

A  dual  nature  often  lays  itself  open  to  the  accusation  of 
being  insincere.  Easy  is  it  to  say  people  are  insincere,  but 
it  is  often  a  cheap  way  of  avoiding  taking  the  trouble  to 
estimate  a  character  fully  and  to  acquire  a  just  understand- 
ing of  it.  In  Watts  was  a  salient  example  of  the  possibility 
of  two  apparently  irreconcilable  characters  being  neverthe- 
less combined  in  one  nature.  It  would  be  equally  unin- 
telligent and  unjust  to  assert  that  the  high  level  of  his 
better  self  was  a  fiction  and  a  pretence  quite  incompatible 
with  the  less  worthy  side  of  his  nature,  as  it  would  be 
untrue  to  say  that  all  his  actions  and  feelings  were  actuated 
by  that  higher  self.  Nature  asserted  the  contrary.  What 
may  seem  to  our  small  human  reasonings  incompatible, 
wider  and  more  comprehensive  laws  prove  are  compatible. 
Nature  has  proved  the  same  in  the  case  of  many  poets,  and 
in  those  even  greater  than  mere  poets. 

Watts  had  a  skeleton  in  his  cupboard,  a  scare  that  would 
possess  his  imagination,  a  morbid  condition,  probably  result- 
ing from  his  realising  the  incompatibilities  existing  in  his 
dual  nature,  saddened  originally  by  the  melancholy  Celtic 
temperament.  From  this  unbearable,  intangible  scare  he 
was  ever  flying.  His  will,  his  conscience,  his  genius 
asserted  that  it  should  not  obtain  the  mastery ;  want  of 
physical  vitality,  latent  consciousness  of  certain  weaknesses, 
shame  for  his  own  shortcomings,  want  of  courage  and 
strength  to  face  certain  facts,  were  ever  threatening  that  it 
was  about  to  secure  a  hold  on  him.  But  fly  from  it  he 
would,  whatever  the  retreat  involved,  and  it  was  such 
retreats  that  determined  many  of  the  actions  of  his  out- 
ward life.     Speaking  to  me  of  one,  he  said,  "  I  do  not  want 


148       REiMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

to  do  it,  but  it  is  a  necessity,"  the  necessity  being  to  fly 
from  the  hound  in  pursuit ;  that  scare,  that  dread,  no  tongue, 
no  pen  has  ever  been  able  to  put  into  words,  but  with 
which  certain  of  the  finest-fibred  temperaments  are  tortured 
— the  madness  of  the  sane ! 

To  give  reasons  to  himself  for  such  scares,  Watts  could 
twist  his  mind  into  certain  attitudes,  and  work  his  actions 
from  the  base  of  such  attitudes,  constructed  to  disguise  even 
from  himself  his   own  nervousness.      Discussino^  these  intri- 

o 

cacies  with  me,  he  would  generally  end  by  avowing  the 
real  impulse  which  drove  him  to  take  action.  No  amount 
of  intricacies  would  deprive  Watts  of  the  desire  to  be 
sincere.  His  letters  to  the  end  of  life  are  constantly  harp- 
ing on  the  depressed  condition  this  dual  nature  produced. 
To  "the  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding"  he  never, 
I  fear,  attained.  His  psychic  intuitions  were  not  illumined 
by  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  which  can  alone  calm  the 
fever  of  the  nerves  in  those  whose  sensibilities  are  super- 
sensitive. He  never  resigned  his  sense  of  responsibility 
into  the  hands  of  a  higher  Spirit ;  it  never  lifted  off  so  as 
to  allay  the  ever-straining  ambition  to  improve,  or  the 
nervous  dread  that  time  was  being  lost.  To  the  end  his 
letters  are  full  of  anxieties — anxieties  about  money,  anxieties 
about  time  slipping  away  without  being  duly  utilised,  depres- 
sion at  feeling  no  improvement  was  being  made.  But  when 
it  is  remembered  that  the  end  came  when  Watts  was  eighty- 
seven,  how  wonderful  it  seems  that  that  ever-frail  physique 
should  have  retained  enough  vitality  to  feel  so  keenly  such 
anxieties !  Only  one  sentence  in  a  letter  written  in  the  late 
autumn  of  the  year  before  he  died  shows  any  extinguishing 
of  the  vital  spark,  when  he  writes  that  "everything  must  be 
crowded  here,"  ^  and  he  adds,  "  I  am  sick  of  the  whole  thing  !  " 

'  This  refers  to  the  moving  of  all  his  pictures  from  his  London  gallery  to  the 
newly-built  one  in  Surrey. 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  149 

"  I  am  nothing!  You  will  find  I  am  nothing!"  Yes,  truly 
the  Watts  who  manipulated  with  ingenuity  his  upward  career, 
was  "  nothing  "  to  the  Watts  whose  imagination  struck  down 
so  deep  into  the  very  core  of  our  world's  eternal  truths. 

Whatever  miseries,  however,  were  entailed  by  the  want 
of  health,  a  too  highly  strung  normal  condition,  a  difficult 
over-sensitive  temperament,  and  a  tormenting  depreciation  of 
self,  Watts  was  in  many  ways  to  be  much  envied.  Though 
he  would  often  repeat  that  being  the  "poor  creature  I  am," 
he  had  only  at  very  rare  intervals  known  the  sensation 
of  positive  happiness,  he  had  nevertheless  a  keen  interest 
in  many  subjects  which  made  him  a  delightful  companion. 
He  enjoyed  the  power  and  the  inspirations  of  a  master 
workman,  the  glory  of  a  great  gift,  the  imagination  to 
conceive  noble  creations,  and  an  eye  and  hand  to  give  them 
a  permanent  form  and  colour ;  not  least, — the  moral  strength 
and  consistency  through  physical  distress  and  difficulties,  to 
put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  and  prove  himself  worthy  of 
nature's  blessings.  The  higher  the  scale  may  go  on  one 
side,  the  lower  it  may  dip  on  the  other ;  but  what  treasures 
has  the  mounting  secured  for  the  world !  The  dual  nature 
was  assuredly  ever  left  outside  the  studio  doors.  The  sacred 
spark  burst  out  as  brightly  as  ever  when  he  was  nearer  ninety 
than  eighty,  in  the  exquisite  "  Lilian,"  a  thing  executed  in  his 
latest,  broadest  manner,  but  as  subtle  in  quality,  as  vibrating 
in  beauty  as  were  the  "Choosing"  and  the  "Ophelia"  of 
forty  years  before,  and  inspired  also,  as  these  were,  by  the 
loveliness  of  a  fair  young  girl ;  a  marvellous  example  of  the 
power  retained  not  only  for  feeling  so  intensely  at  that 
great  age  his  lifelong  passion  for  beauty,  but  also  the  power 
fully  to  record  it.  As  he  had  disciplined  this  passion  for 
beauty  by  studying  the  supreme  excellence  of  Pheidias  and 
Titian,    so  he    steadied    his    tender-hearted,    super-sensitive 


;o       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 


temperament,  his  ungovernable  impulses,  by  directing  his 
thoughts  to  the  highest  and  widest  principles  of  philan- 
thropy, and  by  the  most  rigid  self-training  in  the  habits 
of  his  life.  All  the  same  the  fire  burnt  below,  and  to  the 
end  would  at  times  burst  out,  the  poet-artist  refusing  to  be 
overridden  by  the  schoolmaster, — the  sudden,  uncertain  im- 
pulses of  the  rebel  leaping  over  the  traces  which  controlled 
the  humanitarian  philanthropist.  "  I'm  sick  of  the  whole 
thing"  embodies  the  one,  the  portrait  of  "  Lilian"  the  other. 
When  Watts  was  seventy-one  he  achieved  a  miracle.  It 
was  also  a  crime !  On  principle  he  became  dull,  momentously 
and  intentionally  dull,  positively  prosy, — rising  on  stilts  and 
starting  monologues  on  stuff  which  had  been  used  up  over 
and  over  again — worn  through  and  through.  Happily  this 
little  game  did  not  last  long,  and  he  returned  in  conversing 
to  his  own  delightful,  natural  self.  He  had,  I  presume, 
made  a  futile  effort  to  get  personally  into  harmony  with  his 
theories.  A  futile  attempt  indeed  for  a  temperament  that 
was  only  consistent  in  ever  being  open  to  fresh  impressions, 
and  in  presenting  new  surprises!  In  his  essential  nature 
there  was  a  child-like  reality  of  grace  and  charm,  a  reflex  of 
an  inner  spiritual  grace,  which  infused  a  greater  sense  of 
intrinsic  goodness  and  innocence  into  the  atmosphere  of 
his  presence  than  any  mountings  on  to  the  highest  camels 
of  morality  could  ever  have  created  ! 


RELIGION 

Religion  was  a  subject  often  discussed  between  Watts 
and  myself  The  strict  evangelical  teaching  he  had  received 
when  a  child  had  left  its  indelible  stamp  on  his  nature.  The 
remarkable   side  in  his   character,  however,   which   led   him 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  151 

eventually  to  independence  of  thought  and  action  in  all  trans- 
actions to  the  very  end  of  his  long  life,  resisted  the  control 
of  any  distinct  creed  in  very  early  days.^  No  formalities  of 
any  Church  appealed  personally  to  Watts'  feelings,  but  he 
often  expressed  his  conviction  of  the  absolute  necessity  of 
some  form  of  religion  for  the  masses.^  Walter  Bagehot  used 
to  say  that  it  was  one  thing  for  a  nature  to  throw  off  the 
forms  of  religion  when  the  mind  and  nature  of  men  were 
developed  and  matured,  quite  another  for  men  never  to  have 
had  the  teaching  and  control  of  religion  in  childhood.  We 
had  yet  to  see  the  results  of  a  people  being  brought  up  from 
infancy  without  any  religion.  Doubtless  Watts'  independ- 
ence of  thought  might  have  run  in  very  different  grooves 
had  he  not  had  early  religious  training.  During  the  four 
years  he  was  in  Italy  he  was  not  only  in  a  Roman  Catholic 
country,  but  the  guest  of  Lady  Holland,  who  was  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Watts  had  very  little  sympathy  with  the  Roman 
Church.      Its  definiteness  alone,  I  think,  would  have  alienated 

^  I  say  "  eventually,"  because,  though  Watts  so  often  would  fall  easily  under 
the  influence  of  others  in  whom  he  found  sympathy,  such  influence  was  at  times 
only  skin  deep.  As  soon  as  he  felt  that  it  touched,  or  tried  to  divert  the  current 
of  his  own  individual  views  and  actions,  it  would  cease  to  have  any  effect  on  him, 
and  he  would  show  his  resistance  to  it  by  a  very  decided  course  of  independent 
action.  In  reading  Lady  Burne-Jones'  life  of  her  husband,  the  following  sentence 
struck  me  as  one  which  would  have  equally  truly  described,  I  think,  Watts' 
attitude  towards  those  who  unduly  tried  to  use  their  influence  over  him.  "  Up  to 
a  certain  point  it  was  always  easy  to  take  advantage  of  him  (Burne-Jones).  Press 
that  advantage  too  far,  however,  and  he  was  gone  like  a  bird  from  the  snare." 

-^  In  a  long  letter,  which  Watts  wrote  in  1886,  comparing  the  work  of  a  well- 
known  writer  to  some  little  poems  by  Mrs.  Edward  Liddell,  he  says,  "Though  I 
have  no  critical  faculty,  for  I  am  ignorant  among  the  ignorant,  I  yet  feel  there 
is  a  waft  of  sweet  air  in  them  (the  poems),  perhaps  blowing  through  the  church 
door  J  but  the  feeling  is  very  real,"  which  the  accomplished  work  of  the  cele- 
brated writer  he  thought  lacked.  He  was  not  against  the  Church,  though 
personally  he  would  not  be  bound  to  her  decrees.  He  would  say  :  "  Let  the 
Agnostics  find  something  better  than  the  Church  before  they  attempt  to  demolish 
her.  The  indefinite  teaching  of  the  Agnostics  will  never  keep  the  morals  of  the 
masses  in  order.     They  require  a  positive  creed." 


^ 


152       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

him  from  it.^  Of  any  creed  which  preached  the  doctrine  of 
eternal  punishment  he  disapproved.  He  would  often  speak 
of  this  doctrine  with  indignation  as  one  of  the  most  perverted 
of  human  imaginings.  That  any  human  being  should  attri- 
bute such  cruelty  as  this  belief  involved  to  the  nature  of 
the  God  we  pretended  to  worship  as  a  merciful  and  loving 
Father,  was  to  Watts'  mind  an  abomination,  a  cruelty,  he 
would  say,  the  thought  of  which  no  human  beings  imbued 
with  natural  affections  would  tolerate  in  relation  to  their  own 
children.  The  chapter  of  the  Bible  he  would  often  refer 
to  as  containing  ''everything^'  was  the  thirteenth  of  First 
Corinthians.  "  The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World,"  and  other 
books  by  Henry  Drummond  which  we  read  and  discussed, 
appealed  to  him  as  much  or  more  than  any  he  had  met  with 
on  religion.  Yet  I  think  Watts  did  not  feel  so  definitely  the 
sense  of  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  life,  that  inspiration  which 
alone  unveils  the  mystery  of  the  highest  psychic  experiences, 
as  he  did  the  sense  of  moral  obligations,  particularly  those 
moral  obligations  which  different  classes  of  society  are  under 
one  to  another.  He  much  denounced  the  tyranny  of  class 
prejudice  as  unchristian  and  unjust.  Freedom  for  thought 
and  investigation  he  claimed  for  all,  and  would  often  refer 
to  what  he  called  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the  Roman 
Church,  even  from  the  lowest  point  of  view,  in  having  en- 
deavoured to  stifle  progress  in  all  directions.  If  only,  he 
would  say,  it  had  accepted  the  onward  movement  of  thought 

^  He  wrote  in  a  letter  dated  October  lo,  1892,  that  certainly  the  Roman 
Catholics  make  their  religion  more  conducive  to  pleasure  than  the  Protestant 
sects,  and  that  he  found  it  interesting  to  watch  the  developements  of  the  creed 
taking  the  direction  of  all  that  preceded  it.  The  human  mind,  he  writes,  becomes 
fatigued  by  effort  to  grasp  the  purely  spiritual,  and  seizes  upon  those  doctrines 
and  dogmas  that  permit  it  to  fall  back  on  the  physical.  "  Mary,"  he  adds,  "is 
fast  obscuring  the  figure  of  Christ ;  and  many  Roman  Catholics  ought  to  call 
themselves  Marians,  not  Christians.'"' 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  153 

and  scientific  investigation  as  lawful  and  right,  while  still 
maintaining  the  spiritual  guidance  of  men,  the  Church  would 
have  kept  everything  in  its  hands,  and  retained,  indeed  in- 
creased, its  power.  Watts  had  within  his  own  nature  a  proof 
of  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  you  can  often  lead  where  you 
cannot  drive.  To  try  to  stifle  speculation  was,  he  thought, 
the  surest  way  of  exciting  a  revolt  of  the  intellect  against 
any  control  whatever.  His  mind  was  tolerant,  reasonable, 
and  eminently  sympathetic  so  long  as  no  attempt  was  made 
to  force  an  argument  based  on  the  inadequate  lines  of  pre- 
judice or  custom.  The  idea  that  he  was  to  believe  or  respect 
an  assertion,  merely  because  it  had  been  stated  by  one  the 
world  considered  an  authority,  made  him  at  once  rebel. 

He  had  a  certain  amount  of  sympathy  with  "  extreme 
people "  as  having  freed  themselves  from  conventional 
grooves  of  thought.  One  evening  in  1886  he  sent  me  in 
an  account  of  Prince  Krapotkin,  a  man,  he  thought,  we 
should  hear  more  of.  He  could  not  help  feeling  that  these 
**  extreme  people  "  have  an  instinctive  feeling  about  art  which 
the  dilettanti  quite  ignore.  He  remembered  Mazzini  having 
been  brought  to  see  him  years  before  by  a  friend  of  his 
who  was  distressed  by  his  entertaining  the  opinion  that  art 
had  no  value.  Mazzini  was  brought  to  look  at  "Time  and 
Oblivion,"  and  immediately  said  he  acknowledged  the  value 
of  art  of  that  kind.  This  opinion.  Watts  said,  had,  of  course, 
no  reference  to  the  work  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  but 
from  its  character  and  aim.^  He  added  that  perhaps  these 
"  extreme  people  "  might  be  the  regenerators  of  art !  Watts' 
mind  was  eminently  serious.     He  felt  deeply  the  responsibility 

^  The  text  painted  along  the  top  of  the  canvass,  *'  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth 
to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might  ;  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  desire,  nor  knowledge,  nor 
wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou  goest,"  probably  led  Mazzini  to  feel  the  value 
of  the  aim  in  the  work  more  than  the  actual  design  of  the  figures,  splendid  as 
this  is. 


^m 


154       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

that  life  entails  on  every  human  being — the  necessity  for 
each  of  us  to  make  use  of  every  talent,  were  nature's 
gifts  ten,  five,  or  one.  Though  so  modest,  he  instinctively 
recognised  he  had  been  given  ten  or  more  than  ten 
talents.  In  February,  1890,  he  writes,  "Real  work  must 
not  be  done  with  the  object  of  securing  success.  Every- 
thing that  is  good  must  be  done  for  its  own  good  sake  as 
much  as  possible,  without  any  thought  of  self  mixing  with 
the  intention  or  operation.  I  don't  know  whether  you  have 
read  anything  of  Count  Tolstoi's  ?  His  writings  are  full  of 
food  for  the  mind,  whether  one  goes  all  his  length  or  not ; 
a  thoroughly  earnest  man,  proving  his  earnestness  in  a 
thorough  workmanlike  (so  to  speak)  manner,  more  a  foe  to 
shams  than  Carlyle  himself,  because  self  in  him  is  a  con- 
sciousness only  in  as  far  as  the  effort  to  extinguish  it 
extends."  Watts  felt  so  much  within  him  that  burned  to 
find  an  outlet  in  expression,  and  yet  so  much  that  hindered 
the  outpouring.  He  often  referred  in  his  letters  to  the 
fear  he  has  that  he  might  appear  selfish  in  following  so 
exclusively  his  own  life,  but  the  difficulties  that  were  con- 
stantly impeding  the  work  he  had  set  himself  to  do  made  it 
absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  lead  exclusively  the  life  that 
was  best  for  his  work.  The  desire  to  work  at  the  Arts  of 
Peace  on  the  same  heroic  lines  as  those  that  stimulate  the 
patriotism  and  enthusiasm  of  the  warrior,  gave  a  fine  aspira- 
tion as  of  religion  to  his  labour.  It  was  not  religion,  but 
most  religious,  though  lacking  the  spirit  of  rest  and  con- 
tentment which  the  feeling  of  perfect  trust  that  all  must  be 
well  can  alone  inspire.  Being  a  Celt,  Watts  could  rest  in 
unrest,  in  a  chronic  attitude  of  mind  which  was  melancholy. 
The  wholesome  creed,  "  For  every  evil  under  the  sun  there 
is  a  remedy  or  there  is  none.  If  there  is  one,  try  and  find 
it.      If  there  is  none,  never  mind  it,"  seemed  to  carry  with 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  155 

it  no  practical  moral  bracing  to  Watts,  though  he  would 
acknowledge  its  wisdom.  His  nervous  condition,  which  in- 
cluded the  scare  of  melancholy,  was  too  tormenting  for 
him  to  feel  with  Browning,  "God's  in  His  Heaven,  all's 
rieht  with  the  world."  He  felt  that  neither  was  all 
well  with  himself  nor  with  the  generality  of  the  world. 
He  maintained  that  the  feeling  of  happiness  was  more  a 
matter  of  health  and  of  temperament  than  of  circumstances. 
In  a  fit  of  great  dejection  in  the  autumn  of  1886  he  wrote, 
that  the  Fates  had  been  most  unkind  to  him,  and  that 
under  other  circumstances,  not  extravagant  ones,  he  might 
have  been  very  different;  but  he  did  not  think  he  had  a 
right  to  dwell  upon  this,  as  probably  in  his  own  actual  self 
he  would  have  been  very  little  better.  "  The  world  is  very 
much  what  we  make  it ! "  "  No  one  but  the  fanatic  is 
happy,"  he  writes  in  another  letter. 

Watts  could  embroider  the  surface  of  life  with  many 
imaginings,  many  enthusiasms,  many  paradises — fancy  bred  ; 
but  nothing  fully  contented  and  satisfied  him  in  the  long 
run  but  reality — the  truest  truth  that  his  intellect  could 
seize  and  that  his  heart  could  acknowledge  as  real. 

Those  who  are  gifted  with  genius  often  puzzle  the  world. 
Their  actions  are  considered  inconsistent  and  unaccountable, 
and  are  only  excused  on  the  ground  that  they  are  the  actions 
of  geniuses.  I  think  it  is  not  generally  realised  how  much 
the  special  illumination  we  call  genius  stands  outside  and 
apart  from  the  rest  of  the  mechanism  of  human  brain  and 
feeling.  The  poet  and  artist  of  genius  feel,  though  perhaps 
only  half  consciously,  that  the  gift  they  possess  lies  outside 
the  conscious  will ;  that  it  is  an  influx  of  rays  which  have 
some  divine  source,  and  though  many  may  not  trace  these 
up  to  the  highest  divine  spring,  all  worship  them  as  favoured 
illuminations  from  a  higher  sphere,  one  removed  from  the 


156       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

grossness,  the  materialism,  the  covetous  selfishness  of  the 
world.  Vanity  may  inflate  their  senses  with  an  idea  they 
are  different  from  others,  and  therefore  may  be  a  law  unto 
themselves ;  but  in  worshipping  their  genius  they  do  not 
feel  they  are  worshipping  themselves  or  anything  which 
belongs  to  them  as  individuals,  but  a  something  which  is 
outside  and  better  than  themselves.  The  ordinary  world 
looks  on  the  man  and  his  genius  as  parts  of  one  and  the 
same  individuality,  expecting  rather  an  extra  amount  of 
virtue  in  the  characters  of  those  so  gifted,  whereas  many 
artists  work  off  what  is  best  in  them  in  their  studios,  on 
their  pictures,  or  on  their  statues,  leaving  the  remaining 
part  of  their  nature  an  adaptable  quantity.  Their  debt  to 
duty  is  paid  off  by  loyalty  and  industry  in  fulfilling  the 
highest  dictates  of  their  genius,  their  natures  are  strung  up 
to  their  finest  vibrations  in  her  service  ;  a  collapse  in  action 
often  follows,  for  the  genius  of  right  living  and  of  right 
thinking  is  not  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  genius  for 
art  or  poetry.  Though  Watts  felt  the  most  earnest  desire 
that  his  every  thought  and  every  action  should  be  in  tune 
with  the  best  that  was  in  him,  he  could  not  help  his  fullest 
strength  Bowing  with  the  tide  of  his  aspirations  in  art. 
Ordinary  life  was  generally  out  of  tune  with  his  creative 
inspirations.  By  encouraging  the  habit  of  looking  at  the 
best  side  of  every  one  and  everything,  he  banished  a  certain 
amount  of  ugliness  out  of  life,  and  created  thereby  that 
delightful  atmosphere  which  environed  his  personality  and 
bestowed  pleasure  and  good  on  all  his  friends  ;  but  this  did 
not  free  him  from  the  danger  of  being  ruthlessly  awakened 
at  times  to  the  fact  that  neither  things  nor  people  were 
exactly  like  what  he  had  chosen  to  imagine  them.  He  ever 
desired  to  follow  the  teaching  of  his  favourite  chapter,  the 
thirteenth  of  Corinthians,  but  impressions  that  were  painful 


OUR   FRIENDSHIP  157 

he  could  not  encounter.  In  theory,  his  charity  was  bound- 
less, except  where  his  indignation  was  aroused,  and  he  raged 
against  certain  habits,  such  as  gambling,  racing,  and  despotic 
tyranny  of  any  kind  ;  but  in  practice  he  avoided  most  things 
that  involved  moral  or  mental  distress  or  disturbance.  "// 
faut  payer  pour  tout  I "  The  sensitiveness  that  created 
many  exquisite  beauties  in  art  was  too  cruelly  wrought  on 
by  impressions  that  hurt  him  to  make  it  possible  for  Watts 
to  do  otherwise  than  avoid  them.  He  was,  and  no  one 
knew  it  better  than  himself,  what  is  called  "a  child  of 
nature."  All  the  self-discipline  in  the  world  could  never 
eradicate  the  vividness  with  which  impressions  struck  him, 
nor  the  power  such  impressions  had  over  him. 

Both  to  Watts  and  Leighton  the  beauty  of  nature  was 
a  religion  in  itself.  These  two  great  artists  worshipped 
and  studied  nature  with  reverence  and  earnest  devotion 
to  the  end  of  their  lives,  enlisting  the  best  gifts  in  their 
possession  into  her  service.  In  every  sense  Watts  was 
elevated  by  his  work.  In  the  practice  of  his  art  he  found 
a  developement  for  all  the  most  noble  and  distinguished 
instincts  of  his  nature,  and  among  these  were  undoubtedly 
innate  religious  instincts  not  solely  traceable  to  early  train- 
ing. With  a  very  subtle,  though  commanding,  eloquence, 
has  Leighton  described  the  particular  function  of  art  in 
the  address  he  gave  to  the  Royal  Academy  students  in 
1 88 1.  I  believe  these  words  also  describe  very  truly  the 
views  Watts  took  of  his  own  vocation,  which  he  regarded 
as  little  short  of  a  sacred  mission.  I  quote  below  these 
lines  by  Leighton,  because  I  feel  they  cannot  be  too  often 
quoted,  especially  at  a  time  when  any  serious  aspects  or 
directions  in  art  are  by  so  many  deemed  to  be  out  of 
place,  the  link  between  the  wonderful  creations  in  the 
world  we  live  in  and  the  spiritual  aspirations  in  man  being 


158       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

ignored,  truth  in  rendering  the  superficial  aspect  of  objects 
being  alone  aimed  at  and  studied. 

"  We  have  no  cause  for  misgivings  in  regard  to  the 
continued  vitality  of  the  arts  we  follow,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  their  roots  in  deep  needs  and  undying  instincts  in  our 
common  nature ;  and  I  exhorted  you  to  work  on  in  un- 
wavering faith  that  the  day  is  not  at  hand  when  the 
expression  of  aesthetic  emotion  through  the  forms  of  art 
shall  fail  for  lack  of  an  answering  echo  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

"  Her  duty  is  to  awaken  those  sensations  directly  emo- 
tional and  indirectly  intellectual  which  can  be  communicated 
only  through  the  sense  of  sight,  to  the  delight  of  which  she 
has  primarily  to  minister.  And  the  dignity  of  these  sensa- 
tions lies  in  this,  that  they  are  inseparably  connected  by 
associations  of  ideas  with  a  range  of  perceptions  and  feelings 
of  infinite  variety  and  scope.  They  come  fraught  with  dim 
complex  memories  of  all  the  ever-shifting  spectacle  of  inani- 
mate creation,  and  of  the  more  deeply  stirring  phenomena  of 
life ;  of  the  storm  and  the  lull,  the  splendour  and  the 
darkness  of  the  outer  world  ;  of  the  storm  and  the  lull,  the 
splendour  and  the  darkness  of  the  changeful  and  the  transitory 
lives  of  men.  Nay,  so  closely  overlaid  is  the  simple  aesthetic 
sensation  with  elements  of  ethic  or  intellectual  emotion  by 
these  constant  and  manifold  accretions  of  associated  ideas, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  it  independently  of  this 
precious  overgrowth. 

"  The  most  sensitively  religious  mind  may  indeed  rest 
satisfied  in  the  consciousness  that  it  is  not  on  the  winofs  of 
abstract  thought  alone  that  we  rise  to  the  highest  moods  of 
contemplation  or  to  the  most  chastened  moral  temper  ;  and 
assuredly  arts,  which  have  for  their  chief  task  to  reveal  the 
inmost  springs  of  beauty  in  the  created  world,  to  display 
all  the  pomp  of  the  teeming  earth   and  all  the  pageant  of 


OUR    FRIENDSHIP  159 

those  heavens,  of  which  we  are  told  that  they  declare  the 
glory  of  God,  are  not  the  least  eloquent  witnesses  to  the 
might  and  to  the  majesty  of  the  mysterious  and  eternal 
Fountain  of  all  good  things. 

"And  once  again,  I  say,  I  would  fain  stamp  this  vital 
fact  deeply  in  your  minds.  Believe  me,  whatever  of  dignity, 
whatever  of  strength  we  have  within  us,  will  dignify  and  will 
make  strong  the  labour  of  our  hands  ;  whatever  littleness 
degrades  our  spirit,  will  lessen  them  and  drag  them  down. 
Whatever  noble  fire  is  in  our  hearts  will  burn  also  in  our 
work  ;  whatever  purity  is  ours  will  chasten  and  exalt  it ;  for 
as  we  are,  so  our  work  is,  and  what  we  sow  in  our  lives, 
that,  beyond  a  doubt,  we  shall  reap  for  good  or  for  ill  in 
the  strengthening  or  defacing  of  whatever  gifts  have  fallen 
to  our  lot." 


CHAPTER   VI 

SICKNESS,   TRAVELS,   AND   OLD   AGE 

There  are  days  that  stand  out  in  the  memory  as  typical 
of  seasons — perfect  examples  of  certain  moods  in  nature — 
certain  climates  in  certain  countries.  Easter  Day,  April 
25,  1886,  in  Somerset,  was  one  of  these — truly  typical  of 
the  fine  delicate  beauty  of  our  best  English  spring  days, 
and  all  the  world  over  nothing  can  be  found  more  lovely ! 
I  walked  two  miles  along  the  road  to  church — metal  tongues 
clanging  out  their  peals  from  a  dozen  or  more  belfries  in 
the  old  Henry  VII.  churches,  of  the  beautiful  towers  rising 
near  and  far  over  the  moors  and  the  undulating  ground. 
Sunlight  was  twinkling  in  the  dewy  mist,  soft  moist  colour 
seemed  everywhere  floating  in  the  air  and  on  the  fields 
away  to  the  azure  hills  folding  all  around  the  landscape 
against  the  veiled  line  of  the  horizon.  All  nature  was 
sweet,  fresh,  and  clean  to  greet  Persephone.  The  larks 
rose  over  the  purple  soil  up  into  the  sunshine,  trilling 
their  Easter  song  in  an  ecstasy  of  joy.  The  hawthorn 
hedges  bristling  over  with  bright  vivid  points, — little 
clusters  of  serrated  leaves  still  folded  tight, — made  an 
avenue  of  emerald  green  sunlight  on  either  side  of  the 
road  ;  all  was  so  rural,  and  as  the  poets  would  fain  have 
it!  The  joy  of  that  walk,  the  gratitude  for  feeling  the  joy, 
makes  a  brilliant  jewel  bead  in  the  rosary  of  past  days. 

And   poor   Watts   was   in   London,  working   away  after 

long  illness !     The  same  day  I  wrote  to  him,  describing  to 

160 


^^ 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     i6i 

him  all  I  saw  of  beauty — all  I  felt  of  joy.  He  answered  : 
"Tuesday — Sunrise — Melbury  Road.  I  am  pleased  in  your 
pleasure !  The  country  must  indeed  be  beautiful,  and  I 
understand  its  influence.  Such  grace  and  apparent  bene- 
ficence should  indeed  awaken  a  corresponding  something 
in  the  mind  of  the  beholder.  How  nice  it  would  be  if 
the  budding  loveliness  of  the  young  summer  inspired 
generally  a  like  tenderness  in  humanity!  If  the  hardness 
of  feeling,  which  I  suppose  must  close  round  the  sensibility 
that  has  been  knocked  about  by  disappointment  and 
shrivelled  by  the  bleakness  of  insincerity  (which  drives 
the  sap  of  our  better  feelings  inwards),  how  nice  if  the 
more  child-like  trust  and  tendency  to  enjoy  could  be 
renewed,  and  all  our  best  and  most  natural  nature  could 
come  out  with  renewed  buds  of  Hope  and  Faith.  ..." 
Further  on  in  the  same  letter  he  writes  of  his  own  occupa- 
tions. He  had  been  to  the  Academy,  and  thought  that 
Leighton  would  carry  off  the  honours  of  the  year  with  his 
ceiling,  which  looked  better  than  it  did  in  his  studio,  and 
his  statues.^  He  fancied  Burne-Jones  hardly  looked  so  well 
in  the  Academy  as  he  would  have  in  the  Grosvenor  .  .  . 
Richmond  the  other  day  to  have  found  "  Time,  Death,  and 
]  udgmQnt "  enor^nous/y  improved;  Watts  thought  it  was,  but 
did  not  dare  to  think  it  so  greatly  better,  as  Richmond  had 
seemed  to  find  it.  "  You  do  not  talk  of  illness,  so  that  is  well. 
...  I  have  Blanche's  baby  with  me  for  a  short  time,  and 
this  is  a  real  delight  to  me.  I  love  babies,  and  young  things. 
I  am  not  sure  the  feeling  does  not  go  shading  off  with  the 
mental  and  physical  changes  which  abominable  Time  persists 
in  bringing.^     I  don't  think  I  care  much  for  intellect ;  perhaps 

*  "The  Sluggard"  and  "Needless  Alarms." 

2  I  had  felt  for  some  time  that  age  was  telling  on  Watts.     In  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1886  he  writes,  "  I  put  the  matter  as  far  away  as  I  can,  for  the  thought 

L 


i62       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

because  I  haven't  enough  to  enable  me  to  appreciate  it  in 
others.  What  a  day  was  yesterday,  for  the  holiday  people ! 
I  am  always  pleased  when  they  are  lucky.  .  .  ."  He  ends 
his  letters  by  saying  that  his  picture  "Hope,"  if  it  was 
not  destroyed  in  the  Grosvenor,  promised  to  be  popular. 
He  might  have  sold  it  in  his  studio — "Think  of  that!" 
A  little  later  Watts  wrote  that  he  had  had  an  offer  of 
;i^i5oo  for  the  "Hope,"  but  that  he  would  keep  faith 
with  himself  and  not  sell  it,  as  he  intended  it  as  a  gift  to 
the  nation.  However,  eventually,  his  assistant,  Cecil  Schott, 
made  an  excellent  replica  of  the  picture  in  the  studio,  which 
Watts  worked  on,  and  the  original  was  sold.  Watts  got  ill 
again  in  the  autumn  of  1886,  and  wrote  that,  "Bond^  (his 
doctor)  did  not  give  him  any  hope  of  being  better  till  the 
weather  changed."  He  wrote  asking  me  if  I  thought  "  Hope  " 
looked  as  well  in  the  Gallery  as  in  the  studio.  I  had 
suggested  to  him  that  something  appeared  to  me  wrong  in 
the  arm  of  the  figure,  and  he  answers :  "You  may  be  right, 
but  it  is  not  foreshortened,  as  the  body  leans  a  little  the 
other  way.  I  have  done  little  in  the  scribbling  way,  feeling 
very  stupid.  A  cough  always  makes  me  feel  too  dull  for 
anything."  He  said,  further,  he  had  been  working  a  little  on 
the  red  chalk  drawing  of — what  can  she  be  called  ?  "  The 
Daughter  of  Duty  and  Introspection"  (afterwards  named 
"The  Dweller  in  the  Innermost"),  and  thought  he  might 
send  it  to  one  of  the  exhibitions,  or  it  might  do  for 
Whitechapel. 

how  little  I  have  done  here  is  very  painful  to  me,  but  facts  are  stubborn  things, 
and  however  much  I  may  shut  my  eyes  to  it,  the  fact  remains  that  somewhat 
later  than  this  time  next  year  I  shall  be  70  I  I  have  no  elasticity  of  spirit."  The 
more  age  told  on  him  the  more  Watts  seemed  to  care  for  children  and  young 
things.  In  August  1895  in  a  letter  he  says,  "  If  you  write  again  tell  me  something 
about  the  future  generation,  Guy  !  "  (our  boy). 

^  Doctor   Bond  was   the   father   of  "  Pretty  Lucy   Bond,"   one  of  the   most 
charming  portraits  of  children  Watts  ever  painted. 


l^AM  a  JO  VIA  ^o  c 


HEAD  OF  AN  OLD  MAN 
Five  Minutes*  Study  in  Pastels  by  G.  F.  Watts 


^^mmir^iir* 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND    OLD   AGE     163 

It  was  during  this  year  he  talked  to  me  of  the  idea  he 
had  of  marrying,  but  wrote  in  the  summer  that  he  wished 
it  to  be  kept  a  great  secret ;  a  very  great  secret  !  and  one 
that  was  to  remain  so  for  a  time.  It  was  a  matter  which  he 
desired  no  one  should  know  anything  about  just  then,  as 
he  wished  to  avoid  astonishments,  &c. — "so  a  word  to  the 
wise ! "  This  was  one  of  the  many  instances  where  Watts 
created  the  very  situation  he  wished  to  avoid,  for  naturally 
secrets  are  the  things  which  create  curiosity  and  astonish- 
ment when  sooner  or  later  they  must  be  disclosed.  Not 
long  after  I  asked  Watts'  permission  to  tell  certain  persons, 
particularly  my  sister,  Mrs.  Greg,  and  gradually  he  became 
less  shy  on  the  subject,  and  told  "the  very  great  secret"  to 
several  of  his  own  friends. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  Watts  and  I  became 
much  interested  in  pastels.  Our  mutual  friend,  Miss  Ida 
Verner,  had  been  using  them  with  success.  Some  of 
Watts'  oil  pictures  had  been  mistaken  by  foreign  critics 
for  pastel  work.  He  was  eager  to  try  the  material  and 
see  what  effect  he  could  produce  with  the  real  thing.  I 
find  a  note — "  They  have  sent  my  pastels  but  no  paper. 
Will  you  lend  me  a  sheet?"  An  idea  had  come  to  me 
while  talking  with  him  that  the  flock  paper  used  for  walls 
would  make  a  good  ground  for  pastels,  and  accordingly  I 
had  ordered  a  roll  of  a  dark  red  colour  in  order  to  make  the 
experiment.  I  took  a  piece  of  this  in  to  him.  He  was  in 
his  little  sitting-room,  not  being  well  enough  to  go  into 
his  colder  studio.  Without  a  moment's  delay  he  seized 
his  box  of  pastels  which  were  near  him,  and  while  I  was 
still  standing,  he  drew  in  the  head  of  an  old  man  on 
the  flock  paper  in  less  than  five  minutes.  I  have  it 
before  me  now,  for  it  was  so  cleverly  and  dexterously 
drawn  I  had  it  at  once  put  into  a  frame.      It  is  a  thousand 


i64       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

pities  that  no  fully  satisfactory  manner  has  been  invented 
to  set  pastels.  What  a  splendid  method  it  would  have 
proved  to  Watts  had  this  been  the  case.  Pastel  models 
itself  In  this  head,  which  took  him  but  moments  to  draw, 
there  are  suggestions  of  form  and  modelling,  free  and  yet 
delicate,  of  a  quality  which  neither  oil  nor  water-colour  can 
produce  without  the  labour  which  just  takes  off  the 
bloom  of  spontaneity.  Sargent  can  put  on  vital  touches 
in  oil  pigment  which  are  alive  with  a  sense  of  freshness ;  he 
can  draw  in  paint  as  no  one  else  can,  but  it  is  the  genius 
of  Sargent,  and  not  the  material  he  uses  to  which  such 
success  should  chiefly  be  credited.  Such  vitality  of  touch  in 
oil-painting  is  also  the  result  of  much  physical  vigour — and 
this  Watts  was  deficient  in.  But  from  work  in  pastel, 
a  pigment  so  much  more  flexible  and  easy  to  manipu- 
late, what  could  not  the  impetuosity  of  his  passion 
for  beauty,  and  subtle  feeling  for  form,  have  secured  for 
us!  "Sic  Transit,"  which  was  finished  that  year,  has 
in  its  texture  much  of  the  quality  of  pastel,  with  the 
suggestion  of  more  weight  and  solemnity.  Perhaps  I  am 
prejudiced  in  my  unbounded  admiration  for  this  picture. 
The  stupendous  tragedy  of  its  effect  I  feel  to  be  as  much 
owing  to  the  grandeur  of  the  texture  of  the  painting  as  to 
the  profound  sadness  of  the  conception,  and  the  technique 
which  secured  this  texture  is  so  spontaneous  and  unlaboured, 
that  I  feel  it,  in  its  own  line,  to  be  the  greatest  triumph  of 
Watts'  achievements.  "Love  and  Death,"  "Time,  Death, 
and  Judgment,"  and  the  large  "Court  of  Death,"  were  all 
commenced  before  Watts  had  acquired  ease  and  experi- 
ence in  his  latest  method.  I  saw  from  day  to  day  how 
the  texture  improved  and  acquired  the  fulness  which  they 
now  possess,  but  I  cannot  lose  the  sense  of  the  labour 
this    fulness   entailed.       "Sic   Transit,"    on   the  contrary,   is 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND    OLD   AGE     165 

so  magnificently  simple — yet  containing  all  the  tragedy,  the 
mystery,  the  last  word  that  can  be  said  on  the  awful  theme, 
and  in  an  expression  of  art  which  is  as  solemn  as  the 
theme  itself.  Almost  equal  to  "  Sic  Transit "  are  the  small 
canvasses  of  "The  Court  of  Death,"  and  the  Riders  on  the 
White,  Red,  Black,  and  Pale  Horses. 

It  was  at  this  time  I  became  the  lucky  possessor  of 
"  Brynhildr."  Watts  was  anxious  about  money,  and  the 
great  expense  his  immediate  future  would  entail.  He  had 
arranged  to  go  to  Egypt  for  the  winter.  He  wanted  to 
sell  some  pictures.  I  asked  him  if  he  would  sell  the 
"  Brynhildr,"  and  for  what  price.  After  he  had  mentioned 
the  sum  I  begged  him  to  let  me  have  the  refusal  of  it. 
He  said  he  would  like  to  give  it  to  me  ;  but,  in  the  face  of 
the  additional  expenses  he  had  at  that  time,  I  was  certainly 
not  prepared  to  let  him  do  this.  I  sent  him  the  cheque, 
and,  in  acknowledging  it,  he  writes  a  long  and  very  charac- 
teristic letter.  He  did  not  like  taking  it,  it  was  "a  very 
uncomfortable  proceeding,"  but  considering  all  the  fresh 
expenses  entailed  upon  him  he  felt  he  ought  not  to  refuse 
it.  As  Watts  for  the  last  thirty  years  confided  his  money 
anxieties  to  me,  I  can  speak  with  authority  on  a  matter 
about  which  erroneous  impressions  have  got  about. 
The  false  assumption  that  Watts  had  no  anxieties  with 
respect  to  money  puts  many  of  his  actions  in  a  very  false 
light.  He  always  expressed  a  wish  to  do  kind,  generous 
things,  but  he  had  very  seldom  the  money  to  carry  out 
these  wishes.  As  I  have  said  before,  the  magnificent  gifts 
of  pictures  to  his  nation  entered  into  quite  a  different 
category  from  that  in  which  his  other  expenses  were  placed. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  no  government  would  have  bought  the 
pictures  at  the  time  when  Watts  gave  them  to  the  nation. 
It   was   long   enough    before    they    were    even    appreciated 


i66       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

by  the  general  public.  It  was  only  by  giving  certain  of 
his  most  important  works  to  the  nation  that  Watts  could 
carry  out  the  aim  he  had  in  painting  them,  namely,  to  try 
to  raise  the  art  of  his  country  by  placing  it  on  the  same 
level  as  that  on  which  the  best  literature  and  music  stand ; 
but  while  doing  this  he  also  had  to  live,  and  therefore 
selling  other  pictures  was  a  necessity  to  him.  Had  Watts 
been  a  rich  man,  free  from  money  anxieties,  the  gifts  he 
made  to  his  nation  would  have  meant  far  less  in  generosity. 
What  is  it  to  the  millionaire  to  give  thousands,  the  parting 
from  which  never  touches  his  personal  life  nor  weights 
his  mind  with  a  moment's  anxiety? 

He  had  asked  me  in  the  previous  spring  to  get  up  a 
class  in  his  iron  studio  for  an  artist  who  had  assisted  him, 
but  for  whom  he  had  not  then  any  work.^  Watts  would 
call  this  artist  "the  Divine,"  because  of  his  absolute  con- 
victions, and  the  immovability  of  his  mind  regarding  these 
convictions.  Watts  always  expressed  a  conviction  that  the 
knowledge  of  anatomy  which  "the  Divine"  possessed  was 
greater  than  that  of  Michael  Angelo,  and  considered  he  had 
sounded  the  true  principles  of  form  more  thoroughly  and  satis- 
factorily than  had  any  artist  Watts  had  ever  either  known  or 
read  of.  I  formed  a  class  of  my  personal  friends,  and  Mr. 
Moore  engaged  models  for  us  to  study  from,  on  the  prin- 
ciples Watts  held  as  to  the  way  models  should  be  used. 
For  the  quick  sketches  I  made  from  them  I  used  pastel  on 
the  red  flock  paper,  which  pleased  Watts  very  much.  His 
approval  showed  me  what  sympathy  he  had  with  the  effects 
the  material  produced.  What  exquisite  things  from  his 
hand    might    have     been     produced    had    the    secret    been 

'  Mr.  Henry  Moore,  the  author  of  a  work  which  Watts  believed  would  be  of 
the  greatest  value  to  students,  entitled  "  Analysis  of  Drawing,  Painting,  and 
Composing." 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     167 

mastered  of  setting  the  pastel  without  endangering  or 
destroying  its  beautiful  quality.  Very  soon,  however, 
Watts  and  the  pastels  had  to  go  upstairs.  He  was  very 
unwell,  felt  "the  poorest  of  poor  creatures,"  he  wrote.  His 
doctors  were  anxious  he  should  get  to  a  warm  climate, 
but  could  not  even  allow  him  out  of  his  room.  He  wrote 
that  a  python  had  caught  hold  of  him,  and  he  could  not 
get  well !  He  had  always  had  a  great  desire  to  visit  Egypt. 
One  of  the  books  we  had  read  together,  with  most  interest, 
had  been  Villiers  Stuart's  book  on  it,  and  to  Egypt  he 
meant  to  go  as  soon  as  he  might  travel.  Letters  and 
notes  came  in  most  days — pleasant  ones  about  the  lady 
he  was  about  to  marry.  He  said  he  was  certain  that  we 
should  become  "great  friends,"  as  we  had  "the  same 
interests  and  tastes."  "You  will  perhaps  find  her  a  little 
shy  and  reserved,  but  I  don't  think  you  will  have  any 
difficulty.  We  are  both  to  have  perfect  confidence  and 
freedom,  and  none  of  my  habits  are  to  be  changed."  At 
last  he  was  well  enough  to  move,  and  asks  me  to  run  in 
to  see  him  before  he  started  to  Epsom  to  be  married, 
but  not  to  say  good-bye,  adding  that  if  there  was  any- 
thing he  disliked  more  than  another  it  was  saying  any- 
thing like  good-bye — "a  thing  so  unnecessary  between 
real  friends!  and  fit  only  for  acquaintances."  I  found  him 
better,  but  nervous  and  anxious  to  get  abroad.  He 
returned  to  Little  Holland  House  the  same  day  that  he 
was  married,  and  the  next  morning  the  accustomed  little 
envelope  appeared  asking  me  to  go  in  to  see  him.  He 
was  still  coughing,  but  full  of  hope  as  to  the  wonders  that 
the  Egyptian  climate  was  to  perform,  feeling,  however, 
great  dread  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay !  Travelling  had  always 
been  a  real  ordeal  to  Watts.  The  unaccustomed  was  ever 
a   "bogey"  to  him.     Still  the  hope  that   he  would    regain 


i68       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

health  and  strength  for  his  work  was  uppermost.  I  saw 
him  and  his  wife  two  or  three  times  before  they  started,  but 
unfortunately  had  to  go  to  Norfolk  the  day  before  the  actual 
departure.  Mr.  Barrington's  uncle,  the  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
was  holding  the  Confirmation  Service  at  King's  Lynn,  and 
our  boy  was  to  be  confirmed  by  him,  so  we  could  not 
actually  see  Watts  off.  He  had  been  anxious  to  see  us  on 
that  last  day,  sending  in  several  times  to  know  if  we  had 
not  returned.  We  found,  when  we  did  so,  a  note  from  him 
asking  Mr.  Barrington  to  help  him  with  reference  to  some 
alterations  which  were  going  to  be  made  in  his  house  during 
his  absence  abroad.  He  also  asked  Mr.  Barrington  to 
confer  with  the  architect,  Mr.  Aitchison,  and  Lord  Ilchester's 
agents,  as  he  had  done  with  reference  to  the  building  of  the 
gallery.  He  had  previously  asked  me  to  superintend  the 
copying  in  the  iron  studio  of  five  of  his  most  important 
pictures  by  Cecil  Schott  for  Canon  Barnett's  Church  in 
Whitechapel.  These  copies  were  carried  out  with  great 
industry  and  ability  by  the  young  artist  during  the  months 
when  Watts  was  abroad.  I  would  go  in  once  or  twice  a 
day  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  a  fresh  eye  on  his  work. 

Watts  seemed  in  rather  better  health  when  he  started,  but 
a  letter  came  from  Malta  saying  he  was  there  till  the  next  boat. 
He  had  not  quite  thrown  off  the  attack  before  going  away, 
and  the  draughts  on  board  had  brought  everything  back  again  ; 
so,  though  he  had  had  an  especially  fine  passage  till  past  ''the 
dreaded  bay''  he  was  wretchedly  unwell,  and  the  doctor  on  the 
ship  advised  his  stopping  at  Malta.  He  hoped  to  get  off  by 
the  next  boat.  He  had  "a  gentle  and  wise  companionship 
which  makes  things  easier."  Further  on  he  speaks  of  Cecil 
Schott,  whom  he  asked  me  to  look  after  while  he  was  away  ; 
and  added  that  he  thought  he  was  a  very  unusual  specimen 
.    •    .    quite    remarkable,   and    believes  it  may  be  for  me  a 


I 


OH!  WHO  WILL  0*ER  THE  DOWNS  SO  FREE" 
After  Painting  by  G.  F.  Watts 


SliiiW   .H 


''^i^^'fi'i: 


■';-'•;  3?^ 


m^^-^l 


t*-wi 


SICKNESS.    TRAVELS,   AND    OLD    AGE     169 

pleasure  to  watch  and  aid  the  developement  of  artistic  and 
moral  qualities  of  which  Watts  thought  very  highly.  The 
next  letter  is  dated  "January  i,  1887. — At  the  foot  of  the 
Great  Pyramid."  They  were  in  a  place  which  had  not  been 
open  for,  he  should  think,  thirty  years,  "and  the  fleas  have 
had  it  all  their  own  way."  How  much  will  be  left  of  them  he 
did  not  even  dare  to  think ;  however,  it  was  worth  a  great 
deal  to  see  the  Pyramid  and  Sphinx  under  all  states  of 
atmospheric  effect.  He  was  not  at  all  disappointed.  The 
Sphinx,  especially,  he  thought  wonderful  in  its  calm  serenity. 
He  did  not  remember  any  picture  that  had  at  all  rendered  its 
impressiveness.  (Watts  himself  made  a  fine  study  of  it  by 
night.)  The  only  thing  that  disappointed  him  in  Egypt,  he 
wrote,  was  the  climate !  Fogs  in  the  morning  were  more  than 
common,  and  he  had  been  there  five  days  and  it  had  rained 
twice,  and  now  later  in  Cairo  and  at  the  Pyramids  he  had 
had  only  one  fine  morning !  Cold  mornings  and  evenings  he 
had  been  prepared  for,  but  not  for  mornings  like  those  some- 
times seen  at  the  seaside  in  England.  He  thought  the  climate 
of  Malta  must  be  far  the  best  in  the  world.  .  .  .  He  found 
more  and  more  that  he  never  could  have  travelled  alone,  and 
how  admirable  a  companion  he  had  secured.  He  ended  his 
letter  by  New  Year's  greetings,  and  by  asking  me  to  manage 
to  secure  for  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray  a  commission  for  a  portrait 
of  a  child  Watts  had  been  asked  to  paint.  From  Assouan  he 
wrote  that  he  found  the  results  of  seeing  and  hearing  and 
thinking  came  out  very  slowly  with  him.  So  much  had  been 
seen.  Many  things  had  delighted  him,  some  surprised  him, 
some  disappointed  him.  "Of  the  first,  the  sunsets  and  the 
temples ;  of  the  second,  the  familiarity  of  the  birds  ;  and  of 
the  third,  the  climate."  He  had  not  long  got  over  his 
cough  and  bronchial  tendency.  The  sailors  were  constantly 
coughing  !  and  fogs  were  common  at  Cairo.      He  was  certain 


ijo       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

this  had  been  a  very  tickhsh  time  with  him,  and  though  no 
doubt  he  ought  to  have  been  abroad  occasionally,  it  was  equally 
certain,  he  repeated,  he  never  could  have  travelled  alone. 
"  My  physical  condition  makes  my  state  resemble  an  ancient 
beleaguered  city — sometimes  the  slingers  assail  it,  sometimes 
the  archers,  sometimes  it  is  battered  by  catapults  and  rams  ; 
bronchitis,  bile,  eczema,  or  lumbago !  Luckily  they  don't 
come  all  together,  or  I  might  not  be  able  to  hold  out.  The 
Signora  has  had  a  pretty  bad  time  with  me,  but  for  the  last 
ten  days  I  have  been  a  different  creature,  and  perhaps  a  new 
leaf  has  been  turned."  He  wrote  he  was  delighted  by 
Gilbert's  triumphal  election  as  an  R.A.  That  was  right.  .  .  . 
He  had  been  living  for  the  last  six  weeks  among  Egyptian 
sailors  on  board  the  Nile  boat,  and  had  seen  naked  feet  and 
legs  as  familiarly  as  naked  noses,  and  had  examined  and  studied 
them  very  carefully.  Gilbert  was  wrong,  he  said,  about  his  feet, 
certainly  wrong.  Burne-Jones,  he  thought,  had  divined  the 
colour  and  some  of  the  character  of  Egypt  wonderfully  !  in  fact 
he  was  the  only  one  who  had  given  us  Egypt,  but  this  from 
only  one  point  of  view.  As  a  rule  the  torso  and  arms  of  the 
men  were  splendid !  the  pectoral  as  strong  as  Watts  himself 
was  in  the  habit  of  making  it !  and  the  clavicle  .superb  like 
the  Oxford  bust.^  "  They  fall  off  in  the  article  of  legs."  He 
constantly  wished  for  Walter  Crane — "what  things  he  would 
make  !  "  Watts  said  he  himself  had  only  made  twopenny-half- 
penny scribbles,  worse  than  anatomists !  things  never  to  be 
shown  !  What  builders  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  !  Temples 
with  a  frontage  of  nearly  a  mile,  and  columns  that  look  as  if  in- 
tended to  support  the  sky  !     Though  he  had  his  face  turned 

^  Watts  had  told  me  that  when  this  bust  was  excavated  from  a  number  of 
fragments  in  the  cellars  of  the  Museum  at  Oxford,  he  perceived  at  once  the 
extraordinary  beauty  of  it.  He  believed  it  to  be  a  portrait,  and  we  settled  it 
must  have  been  that  of  Aspasia.  His  pictures,  "The  Wife  of  Pygmalion,"  and 
"  Iris,"  were  of  course  painted  adaptations  from  this  bust 


SICKNESS,   TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     171 

homeward,  he  would  have  to  defer  as  long  as  possible  getting 
back  into  the  cold  and  damp,  alas  !  His  letters  had  failed  him 
almost  entirely,  and  he  knew  next  to  nothing  about  what  had 
been  going  on.  He  was  getting  anxious  about  many  things. 
He  repeated  the  opinion  that  Burne  -  Jones  had  divined 
Egypt,  and  spoke  of  Holman  Hunt.  "  Gustave  Dor6  has  in 
some  of  his  illustrations  rendered  much  of  its  desolation,  I 
think,  also  divining."  Watts  had  been  above  the  first  cataract, 
which  was  not  a  cataract  at  all,  but  a  mass  of  black  and 
granite  rocks  among  which  the  river  rushes.  The  rocks,  or 
rather  astonishing  confusion  of  enormous  stones  on  both  sides 
as  well  as  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  had  reminded  him  of 
Dore  every  instant.^  Notwithstanding  Watts'  impatience  to 
get  back,  he  perceived  the  necessity  of  hovering  outside  the 
cold  till  prudence  gave  him  leave.  If  the  change  did  for  him 
what  was  possible,  he  hoped  to  prove  that  the  time  and 
expense  had  been  well  employed.  He  wrote  that  he 
wished  I  could  see  the  boatmen,  about  ten  of  them,  "  of 
every  shade  of  colour  from  copper  to  ebony,  wearing 
drapery,  after  which  European  clothes  inspire  disgust ! " 

On  March  loth  he  wrote,  "  Still  on  the  Nile,"  and  that 
he  was  in  a  very  bad  temper.  The  wind,  which  would  have 
suited  going  up  and  have  saved  him  no  end  of  time,  would  not 
blow  then,  but  now,  wanting  for  many  reasons  to  get  back, 
and  having  long  exceeded  the  allotted  time,  it  persisted  in 
blowing  dead  against  them,  making  the  Nile  into  a  muddy 
sea,  and  he  was  losing  "  time  and  money  and  temper."  He 
hoped  to  be  turning  homeward,  but  still  dreaded  the  climate. 
Even  there  the  bronchial  tendency  was  always  cropping  up. 
He  was  going  to  try  some  baths  near  Cairo,  and  had,  from  all 

^  I  remember  Rossetti  speaking  of  Gustave  Dore  also  in  appreciative  terms, 
and  saying  what  nonsense  it  was  for  people  to  scorn  his  work,  as  was  the  habit 
with  some  who  could  not  approach  him  ! 


172       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

he  heard,  great  hopes — "  but  I  do  not  expect  to  be  made  new." 
He  was  satisfied  that  Egypt  was  the  place  for  a  young 
student.  He  had  fallen  in  with  Hamilton  Aid6,  and  had 
talked  to  him  about  sending  students  out  to  Egypt.  He 
hoped  that  the  subject  might  be  taken  up  again !  With 
reference  to  this  idea  he  had  tried  to  interest  Hamilton  Aide 
in  "  Little  Schott."  No  one,  he  said,  should  come  out  to 
Egypt  expecting  a  perfect  climate.  On  the  iith  of  March, 
and  on  the  river  some  fifty  miles  from  Cairo,  they  were  in  a 
thick  fog,  and  the  deck  of  the  boat  was  as  wet  as  if  there  had 
been  heavy  rain.  .  .  .  He  did  not  yet  know  how  much  of  a 
new  lease  of  health  he  might  reckon  upon  ;  still  the  old  alter- 
nating eczema,  cough,  lumbago,  colds,  &c.  He  hoped  to 
be  up  to  some  better  work,  but  time  would  show.  If  he  was 
not  better  it  would  not  be  for  want  of  care  and  nursing, 
with  change  of  air  thrown  in.  As  far  as  improvement  in 
''sight''  of  nature  went,  he  thought  that  he  certainly  had 
gained,  but  whether  anything  would  come  of  it  was  another 
matter. 

From  Cairo  he  wrote,  that  the  doctor  recommended 
the  baths  at  Helwan,  and  if  rooms  were  to  be  got  he 
would  stay  there  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  which  he  did. 
Then  he  went  to  Constantinople,  where  he  arrived  on  "a 
horrible  morning  it  would  have  been  in  any  place."  He  had 
caught  a  cold,  was  rather  miserable,  and  did  not  admire  the 
place.  Thence  he  went  to  Athens,  where  he  had  to  remain 
a  little  time  "as  I  want  the  sun,  which  does  shine  here,  to 
shake  a  cold  out  of  me."  The  beauty  of  the  scenery  in 
Greece  made  him  regret  that  Turner  never  saw  it,  and 
wondered  that  artists  of  the  present  day  did  not  seem  "to 
care  for  what  Nature  does  in  her  most  divine  moods," 
especially  as  much  that  threw  him  into  an  ecstasy  of  de- 
light  was   often    to   be    seen     in    Scotland,     "  what    Scotch 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     173 

painters  mean  by  for  ever  reproducing  mist?"^  He  wrote 
of  Millais,  and  the  notices  he  had  seen  in  The  Times  on  the 
Grosvenor  Gallery  and  the  Royal  Academy.  "  I  expect  to 
see  a  good  deal  in  your  studio,  and  I  hope  soon,  as  our  faces 
are  really  set  homewards  now."  They  should  have  been 
actually  on  their  journey  ;  but  Nature  did  not  seem  inclined 
to  do  as  much  for  him  as  he  had  hoped,  "and  I  am  appar- 
ently just  as  liable  to  colds  and  their  consequences  as  ever 
— a  little  disappointment ! "  He  did  not  see  in  the  future 
that  vista  of  work  done  he  thought  might  have  been  pos- 
sible, "  but  one  can  only  do  what  one  can."  I  must  not  expect, 
he  wrote,  to  see  studies  or  sketches.  He  could  not  make 
sketches,  but  thought  if  he  should  have  any  working  time 
still  in  front  of  him  something  might  come  out  of  the  wealth 
spread — and  so  profusely — before  him.  He  thought  he 
had  filled  his  mental  pockets,  but  was  not  sure  that  the 
material  was  sufficiently  strong  to  retain  what  had  been 
housed  into  them.  However,  he  thought  he  had  appreci- 
ated, and  that  was  something.  Egypt  and  Greece  had  been 
two  divine  books  open  to  him,  and  he  believed  that  he  had 
been  able  to  read  them,  at  least  in  some  degree.  He  pressed 
me,  if  I  had  an  opportunity,  to  see  Egypt.  He  did  not  really 
think  that  the  human  structure  was  to  be  seen  anywhere  else, 
nor  could  any  costume  at  all  vie  with  the  ever-changing  and 
everlasting  charm  of  drapery,  real  drapery.  This  had  made 
Egypt,  independently  of  other  interests  by  no  means  over- 
looked, a  sort  of  paradise  to  the  eye.  "  Go  and  see  it  when 
you  can,"  he  repeats. 

^  Watts  was  forgetting  those  matchless  sketches  of  Greece  by  Leighton,  for 
which  he  had  so  intense  an  admiration.  Leighton  would  tell  me  that  he  thought 
that  in  the  Western  Highlands  the  most  beautiful  sights  in  the  world  were  to  be 
seen.  With  as  exquisite  outlines  as  you  get  in  Greece,  you  have  the  moisture  in  the 
air,  which  likewise  gives  perfection  of  colour.  He  once  told  me  that  the  most 
beautiful  scene  he  had  ever  seen  on  this  earth  was  one  evening  at  sunset  when 
he  was  approaching  the  Island  of  Skye  by  sea  from  the  south. 


174       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

On  his  return  home  Watts  was  more  eager  than  ever  to 
get  through  much  work,  but  says  in  a  note  I  find  that  though 
he  seems  to  be  always  working,  nothing  seems  to  be  done. 
However  he  was  able  to  labour  on  till  it  was  time  again  to 
think  of  flying  from  the  fogs  and  cold  of  a  London  winter. 
He  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  Malta  climate,  having  there 
for  the  first  time  thrown  off  the  worst  of  his  long  malady,  that 
he  settled  to  go  there  again,  and  started  full  of  hope,  think- 
ing to  get  a  winter  of  work  in  sunshine  and  warmth.  He 
took  the  Villa  Micallef  at  Sliema,  From  there  he  wrote 
lengthily  on  family  matters,  and  congratulated  me  on  certain 
things,  exaggerating  as  usual  the  value  of  my  achievements, 
saying  he  envied  me  for  many  reasons.  He  went  into  his 
expenses  and  income,  regretting  his  want  of  means.  The 
cost  of  sculptor's  studio  and  work  left  but  a  very  small  in- 
come to  live  in  England.  However  he  had  determined  so 
far  to  change  his  plans  as  to  paint  a  few  things  for  money,  if 
they  presented  themselves  to  be  not  out  of  harmony  with  the 
more  important  direction  of  his  objects  ("  not  portraits ; 
those  I  cannot  for  any  purpose  undertake ") ;  but  a  few 
things  occasionally  which  may  sell,  in  order  to  create  a  little 
fund  to  be  usefully  applied.  He  could  not  say  he  had  done 
much,  but  he  thought  he  had  got  a  better  view  of  the  beau- 
tiful— that  was  something.  He  begged  me  earnestly  not  to 
be  afraid  of  finding  my  work  easy.  He  wished  he  found  his 
so.  He  would  rejoice  in  so  pleasant  a  state  of  things.  He 
did  not  think  real  masters  found  all  they  did  good  for  noth- 
ing. It  was  not  possible,  nor  did  good  work  indicate  any 
such  heart-burnings.  "  Keep  great  principles  in  your  mind 
and  before  your  eye,  and  rejoice  in  being  able  to  rejoice." 
In  the  same  letter  he  wrote  interestingly  of  Walter  Crane. 
He  did  not  think  one  could  think  too  extravagantly  upon  the 
serious  conditions  of  modern  life,   but   it   was   necessary  to 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD    AGE     175 

work  in  concert  with  others  in  order  to  move  any  great 
weight,  which  concert  could  not  be  brought  about  by  too 
great  an  expansion  of  individual  sensations.  The  more  we 
felt  the  more  we  should  be  able  to  impress  others,  and  the 
less  necessary  would  be  violence.  He  did  not  know  what 
was  going  on,  but  was  always  dreading  change,  fearing  that 
things  must  become  worse  before  the  better  forced  itself 
forwards  as  a  necessity.  He  sees  better  what  might  be 
done  than  how  to  do  it.  He  was  thinking  about  art ;  for  he 
writes  anything  else  was  for  him,  alas !  quite  out  of  any  pos- 
sibility ;  but  he  did  not  like  going  out  of  the  world  without 
having  done  a  man's  work  in  some  worthy  direction.  This 
feeling  was  growing  upon  him,  and  added,  he  could  have 
felt  envious  of  Leighton  and  every  one  who  had  physical  and 
intellectual  vigour,  but  he  must  not  hope  for  increase  of 
either  at  his  time  of  life.  One  thing  he  wished  to  impress 
upon  me,  viz.  to  do  the  best  one  possibly  can  ;  one  must 
have  not  only  interest  in  one's  work,  but  satisfaction.  While 
quick  to  perceive  defects,  we  should  be  alive  to  success.  "If 
we  do  not  know  when  we  do  well,  I  am  sure  we  cannot  esti- 
mate truly  our  failure,  even  if  it  were  only  because  we  shall 
not  know  perfectly  in  what  the  failure  consists."  Very 
shortly  after  receiving  this  letter  a  telegram  came  saying 
Watts  was  seriously  ill.  We  telegraphed  our  sympathy,  and 
another  arrived.  The  case  seemed  hopeless.  Quite  sud- 
denly one  morning  he  had  fallen  down  senseless.  He  got 
better  and  then  ill  again.  As  soon  as  he  could  be  removed 
the  doctor  ordered  him  at  once  to  leave  Malta.  He  wrote 
from  Naples  that  everything  had  gone  wrong,  and  all  his 
"expectations  come  to  naught — a  terrible  expense  of  health 
and  time  and  money."  He  was  glad  that  things  had  gone 
well  with  me,  and  looked  forward  to  "great  results."  He 
said  Naples  was  a  lovely  place,  but  the  weather  had  done  its 


176        REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

best  to  spoil  everything.  The  oldest  inhabitants  said  they 
never  had  recollected  anything  so  bad.  He  was  to  go  by 
boat  the  next  day  to  Marseilles,  and  the  look-out  was  by  no 
means  reassuring,  very  wet  and  very  cold.  He  dreaded  the 
passage,  he  dreaded  staying  at  Naples  more.  Then  he  wrote 
of  art  matters.  He  longed  to  see  Richmond's  pictures,  and 
thought  he  would  go  straight  ahead  now,  and  wondered  what 
he  had  done  about  the  Grosvenor.  Watts  hoped  that  there 
was  no  real  attempt  being  made  to  establish  a  new  gallery.' 
He  was  sure  there  were  enough,  and  more  than  enough, 
already.  Respecting  Leighton's  picture,  the  "Captive  An- 
dromache," which  he  heard  would  be  finished  in  time  for  the 
R.A.,  Watts  wrote,  "  He  is  a  wonderful  man.  I  should  like 
to  know  whether  it  is  in  your  opinion  what  it  promised  to 
be — his  best  picture.  It  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant." He  wanted  to  know  about  the  probabilities  of 
the  forthcoming  R.A.,  and  especially  what  Mrs.  de  Morgan 
had  been  doing.  He  wished  he  had  his  time,  or  a  good 
lump  of  working  time  to  come,  for  he  had  been  so  much 
impressed  with  the  beauty  of  natural  effects  in  the  South. 
He  felt  that  the  early  Italians  had  been  on  the  best  road. 
Though  he  couldn't  wish  that  Titian  or  Tintoret  had  done 
other  than  they  did,  still  he  considered  facility  fatal  to 
the  tranquil  earnestness  that  finds  and  reproduces  the  very 
best.  The  gospel  of  beauty  should  be  preached  to  all  the 
young.  The  art  which  did  not  acknowledge  serene  beauty 
as  a  shrine  worthy  of  worship  might  astonish  and  succeed, 
but  it  would  not  maintain  a  first  place  in  future  estimation. 
He  wrote  that  I  must  forgive  him  for  a  stupid  letter,  but 
that  he  was  feeling   more  than  stupid.     Subsequently,  in  a 

'  It  was  at  this  time  that  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay's  secretaries  were  leaving  him  and 
trying  to  establish  another  Gallery,  which  ended  in  a  company  being  formed  to 
build  the  New  Gallery. 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,   AND   OLD    AGE     177 

letter  dated  March  13,  1888,  from  Mentone,  he  wrote  that 
the  life  since  Malta,  and  the  last  eight  weeks  there,  had  been 
such  as  could  not  be  passed  again.  What  with  doctors'  bills, 
sick  nurse,  boats,  rails,  and,  worse  than  all,  hotels,  he  could 
not  go  through  it  again  without  mental  and  material  ruin. 
•'  However,  most  things  come  to  an  end."  From  Mentone  he 
wrote  most  lengthily,  and  I  think  wisely,  of  the  split  between 
the  Grosvenor  Gallery  and  the  secretaries,  which  resulted  in 
the  New  Gallery  being  built.  He  wished  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  exhibitions,  especially  at  that  moment,  nor  "to  be 
bothered  with  considerations  connected  with  them."  He 
regretted  the  new  enterprise  entered  into,  and  did  not  wish 
to  connect  himself  with  any  clique.  As  regarded  artistic 
action,  not  personal,  he  would  always  go  with  Burne-Jones, 
as  he  believed  he  had  always  been  absolutely  true  to  artistic 
principles,  and  he  believed  absolutely  in  Burne-Jones'  future 
place.  "  I  always  looked  at  things,  as  you  know,  from  two 
points  of  view — the  far  past  and  the  far  future.  The 
squabble  was  trivial,  but  the  principle  was  important.  I 
think  I  shall  not  be  denied  the  right  of  protest  against 
Mammon  worship!"  He  then  went  minutely  into  the  subject 
of  the  discussion,  ending  by  regretting  the  public  scandal  of 
the  split,  and  the  action  of  rushing  into  print  and  screaming 
to  the  public  about  what  the  public  cares  nothing  for. 
There  was  nothing  the  public  understood  so  well  as  making 
money.  As  he  said  before,  upon  principle  he  took  the 
opposite  view.  One  of  Watts'  most  favourite  sayings  were 
the  words  he  inscribed  on  the  curtain  which  hangs  behind 
the  shrouded  figure  in  the  picture  "  Sic  Transit  Gloria 
Mundi,"  "What  I  spent  I  had,  what  I  saved  I  lost,  what 
I  gave  I  have."  He  had  ever  been  impressed  with  the 
absolute  senselessness  of  attaching  value  to  money  as  money, 
and  of  the  vulgarity  of  mind  which  attached  value  to  people 

M 


178       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

simply  because  they  were  possessors  of  money,  the  sole 
worth  and  distinction  of  the  rich  lying  in  the  use  they  made 
of  their  possession.  He  did  not  go  so  far  as  Ruskin,  who 
condemned  taking  any  interest  for  money,  but  thought,  on 
the  contrary,  if  one  hired  money  it  should  be  paid  for  as 
anything  else  that  is  hired  ;  but  he  thought  the  sort  of 
religion  percentage  had  become  in  modern  times  a  very 
melancholy  thing  indeed,  taking  the  place,  as  it  certainly  had, 
of  almost  every  other  incentive,  excepting  in  rare  cases,  such, 
for  example,  as  Gordon.  He  knew  no  one  who  was  not 
consciously,  or  unconsciously,  impressed  by  it,  "  and  this  I 
abhor  upon  principle."  He  would  not,  however,  identify 
himself  with  anything  that  had  not  a  wide  public  importance. 
He  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-one,  and  was  obliged  to 
acknowledge  to  himself  that  he  was  an  old  man.  What 
time  he  had  left  must  not  be  given  to  squabbles  more  or  less 
trivial.  He  ended  the  letter  by  saying  he  was  so  glad  I  was 
seeing  so  much  of  Leighton — a  man  "to  see  as  much  as  you 
can  of."  Judging  from  my  own  personal  experience,  Watts 
spoke  of  no  one  with  so  much  admiration  as  he  did  of 
Leighton.  When  interviewing  Leighton's  biographer,  he 
said  he  wished  it  to  be  recorded  that  he,  Watts,  thought 
Leighton's  character  the  most  beautiful  he  had  ever  known. 
In  another  letter  from  Mentone  (written  in  bed  when  suffer- 
ing from  a  bad  cold),  referring  to  the  death  of  a  relative  of 
my  family  whom  he  had  been  seeing  there,  he  adds  that  few 
were  more  impressed  with  the  sense  of  the  inevitable  and 
possible  nearness  of  death  than  he  was,  and  yet  when  it  was 
at  all  sudden  it  was  always  a  shock.  He  supposed  that  I 
was  back  and  at  work.  "  How  I  long  to  be  doing  so  in  my 
studio  now  it  is  almost  light  enough  for  work  at  five  o'clock! 
I  long,  too,  to  know  and  see  what  has  been  done,  I  am 
greatly   pleased  to   hear    such   good   accounts  about    Guy." 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     179 

Thereupon  he  enters  on  the  subject  of  hunting.  Our  son 
had  been  hunting.  Watts  had  never  denied  the  brutal  side  of 
the  chase,  and  could  safely  say  he  had  never  failed  to  have  a 
thorough  dislike  and  distaste  for  that  one  side  of  it  ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  had  felt,  and  did  feel,  very  strongly,  the 
necessity  of  keeping  up  certain  qualities  and  emulations 
without  which  the  human  animal  is  very  one-sided.  The 
physical  health  and  activity,  which  cannot  be  kept  up  in  a 
country  like  England,  where  there  are  no  mountains  to  climb, 
without  a  stronger  inducement  than  exercise  for  itself  can 
afford,  was  of  immeasurable  importance,  not  only  on  account 
of  the  race,  but  for  the  individuals  who  do  most  for  the 
highest  portion  of  the  nation — the  intellectual !  Shelley  and 
Rossetti  might,  with  different  physical  habits,  have  had  more 
of  Shakespeare's  naturalness  without  losing  their  spontaneity 
— who  knows  ?  Man  was  but  an  animal,  though  so  marvel- 
lously gifted.  Darwin's  life  had  brought  into  relief  a  fact  of 
the  highest  importance,  not  unknown  or  unacknowledged, 
but  in  its  degree  almost  incredible,  namely,  how  much  the 
balance  may  be  lost  by  constant  weight  being  thrown  into 
one  scale.  A  lover  of  music  and  poetry,  at  the  end,  by  for 
ever  exercising  his  mind  in  the  direction  of  investigation, 
once  lost  his  pleasure  in  music  and  came  to  find  Shakespeare 
a  bore  !  "  Preserve  us  from  too  much  knowledge."  He  was 
doing  a  little  work,  but,  he  writes,  rather  preparation  than 
anything  else,  and  was  sending  a  pastel  sketch  home  for 
exhibition  "  if  it  should  be  worthy — doubtful !  especially  as  I 
expect  by  the  time  it  arrives  it  will  be  but  a  film  of  powder." 
He  referred  to  a  speech  made  at  a  dinner,  in  which  it  was 
asserted  that  art  should  not  be  considered  a  religious  cult, 
nor  that  it  had  anything  to  do  with  it.  The  speech  was 
generally  applauded.  Watts  said  that  he  should  never  send 
any  of  his  work  to  a  place  managed  by  one  holding  such 


i8o       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

views.  In  a  subsequent  letter  from  Aix-les-Bains,  he  wrote 
enthusiastically  of  Burne-Jones,  whose  pictures  in  the  New 
Gallery  I  had  described  to  him  in  a  letter.  Watts  wished  to 
exhibit  with  Burne-Jones,  but  said  he  had  no  further  con- 
nection with  the  New  Gallery.  There  were  certain  affinities, 
he  felt,  between  his  own  work  and  Burne-Jones'  art,  "  not, 
I  am  afraid,  in  pictorial  achievement,  but  in  earnest  deter- 
mination to  do  the  best  that  is  possible."  He  believed  that 
the  future  would  place  Burne-Jones  above  everybody.  "  It 
is  great  art,  and  he  works  like  a  great  artist."  He  wished  to 
include  the  "Angel  and  Child"  he  had  painted  among  the 
pictures  for  the  nation,  though  the  unexpected  strain  that 
year  made  his  limitation  of  income  a  source  of  anxiety. 
Therefore  he  would  make  a  replica  of  the  "Angel  of  Death," 
which  he  would  sell,  and  promised  a  friend  of  mine,  who  had 
wished  to  purchase  the  original  picture,  the  refusal  of  it. 
He  expressed  great  anxiety  to  get  to  any  work  he  could  do. 
He  was  glad  we  were  satisfied  about  Guy  (our  son).  "  Pray 
let  him  grow  up  strong  and  manly,  not  a  brute  ! "  but  he 
suspected  that  in  the  times  that  were  coming,  we  should 
want  men  rather  than  sentimentalists. 

Watts  had  turned  his  back  on  the  South  for  the  last  time. 
He  realised  that  no  more  experiments  must  be  made.  At  his 
age  he  could  be  no  traveller.  He  brought  home  with  him  the 
"  Naples  "  which  he  worked  on  during  the  summer,  a  beautiful 
thing  which  was  bought  by  our  friend  the  late  Mr.  Thompson 
Yates,  who  lent  it  for  exhibition  during  many  months  at 
Leighton  House,  and  a  "  View  of  St.  Agnese  from  Mentone." 
The  next  winter  Watts  tried  Brighton.  He  looked  fairly 
well  when  I  saw  him  there  in  the  autumn,  but  he  was  taken 
ill  shortly  after,  and  wrote  later  that  he  had  been  in  bed 
nine  weeks,  and  had  had  a  hospital  nurse  for  eight  weeks. 
He  was  afraid  that  I  and  all  his  friends  would  be  disappointed 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     i8i 

by  the  little  he  would  have  to  show,  "  but  the  fact  must  be 
accepted  now  that  I  am  really  an  old  man,  and  shall  have  to 
take  things  quietly."  Brighton  was  not  tried  again,  but  he 
went  the  next  winter  to  stay  with  friends  in  Surrey.  In  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1891  there  was  illness  in  my  family  of 
the  most  anxious  and  serious  kind.  Watts  was  full  of  sym- 
pathy and  writes  much  on  the  subject,  many  letters  from  his 
bed,  for  he  also  was  ill.  After  the  worst  of  the  illness  was 
over  with  us,  he  wrote  hoping  all  would  soon  be  well,  and 
that  I  should  get  to  work  with  eyes  and  mind  widened  by  the 
long  abstinence.  He  thought  this  was  not  a  bad  thing  to 
happen — we  become  so  much  creatures  of  habit  that  it  was 
no  bad  thing  to  be  forced  to  become  strangers  to  ourselves  and 
our  practice.  At  his  age  this  could  not  be  so  productive  of 
good  as  when  younger,  and  the  loss  of  as  much  time  as  had 
been  cut  away  from  him  would  be  difficult,  under  the  most 
favouring  circumstances,  to  make  up.  He  hoped,  however, 
to  get  to  work  again  the  next  week.  In  the  previous  winter, 
that  ot  1890  and  1891,  while  staying  with  his  friends  in 
Surrey,  he  wrote  that  he  had  done  no  painting,  but  had  been 
making  some  red  chalk  drawings,  and  he  thought  some  very 
beautiful  qualities  came  out  of  this  material.  He  advised  me 
to  make  a  few  studies  in  it  for  a  series  I  was  painting.^ 
He  thought  I   should  find  it  suggestive. 

Watts'  use  of  red  chalk  is  well  known.  He  produced 
peculiarly  lovely  effects  in  it.  He  carried  out  that  very 
specially  lovely  quality  of  bloom,  in  which  he  is  unrivalled 
in  oil  painting,  in  these  red  chalk  studies.  It  is  the  com- 
bination of  this  quality  in  the  surface  with  the  solidity  in 
the    modelling  of  the  form   which    creates   the  rare   charm 

^  This  was  a  series  of  designs  I  had  made  with  short  verses  attached  to  them, 
called  "  Love  in  the  Story  of  the  Year,"  in  which  both  Watts  and  Leighton  had 
taken  a  kindly  interest. 


i82       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

in  them.  Speaking  of  the  little  he  had  done,  he  wrote 
that  he  never  remembered  such  a  winter,  and  dreaded 
to  think  of  the  consequences.  He  believed  the  inevit- 
able distress  would  hasten  some  difficulties  and  neces- 
sities for  adjustment  which  have  only  been  delayed.  No 
doubt  he  was  a  pessimist,  but  he  thought  every  one  who 
reflected  must  see  how  dangers  and  difficulties  crowded 
around  us.  It  was  hopeless  for  individuals  of  an  ordinary 
kind  and  in  an  ordinary  position  to  strike  against  them,  but 
perhaps  all  of  us  could  do  something,  however  little,  and  the 
less  we  thought  about  ourselves  and  the  more  about  the 
responsibilities  of  mere  existence,  the  better  for  us  indivi- 
dually and  for  all  collectively. 

The  conditions  in  which  Watts  normally  found  himself 
were  such  as  made  it  almost  a  necessity  for  him  to  think 
about  himself.  The  tasks  he  had  set  himself  to  achieve 
were  lengthy.  Even  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances he  could  hardly  hope  to  accomplish  them  at  his  age  ; 
but  when,  as  he  constantly  wrote,  weeks  and  months  in  every 
year  were  wasted  by  being  laid  up,  how  was  he  to  achieve 
them  ?  It  was  only  through  the  greatest  care  and  good 
nursing — and  this  he  received — he  wrote,  that  he  was  there 
at  all.  He  must  be  more  than  careful,  but  it  was  a  bore  to 
have  so  constantly  to  think  about  his  body  ;  but  **  I  am  the 
poorest  of  poor  creatures !  "  He  told  me  that  friends  were 
building  him  a  house  not  far  from  their  own,  as  the  air  in 
Surrey  suited  him,  and  little  travelling  was  involved  in  going 
up  and  down  from  it  to  London.  Watts  possessed  himself 
of  this  house  later,  and  made  of  it  his  country  home  to  the 
end  of  his  life. 

I  had  not,  since  Mr.  Harrington's  dangerous  illness,  been 
able  to  resume  painting.  Though  the  immediate  anxiety  as  to 
the  special  illness  was  over,  there  were  many  claims  owing  to 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     183 

other  illnesses  which  quite  prevented  my  mind  being  suffi- 
ciently at  peace  to  absorb  itself  in  art.  I  have  found  it  to 
be  absolutely  useless  to  attempt  to  paint  unless  able  to 
absorb  myself  without  interruption  in  the  work.  However, 
it  seemed  possible  for  me  to  write  in  any  spare  minutes  I 
had,  so  forthwith  I  began  my  first  story,  "  Lena's  Picture." 
Watts  became  most  kindly  eagerly  interested  in  it.  He 
wrote  many  letters  and  notes  referring  to  the  book.  How 
was  the  book  getting  on  ?  He  hoped  I  was  at  work  on  my 
book.  The  thing  that  really  interested  him  was  to  hear 
about  my  book.  He  was  delighted  to  get  the  good  news 
that  the  book  was  coming  out  soon,  finding,  as  ever,  his 
delight  in  enthusiastic  sympathy,  even  should  it  entail  extra- 
vagant praise.  As  soon  as  "  Lena's  Picture"  was  done  with, 
he  expressed  himself  eager  for  more.  He  asked  whether 
I  was  prompted  to  write  any  more  ?  He  hoped  so.  He 
hoped  I  would  make  painting  and  writing  the  objects  of  my 
life.  He  wished  he  had  the  gift  for  writing,  as  there  were 
so  many  things  he  wished  to  say.  Any  one  conversant 
with  Watts'  letters  must,  however,  feel  that  he  had  a  very 
distinct  power  of  using  words  in  writing  which  expressed  his 
ideas  with  singular  lucidity  and  originality. 

In  the  spring  of  1894,  whilst  Mr.  Harrington  and  my  son 
were  on  a  visit  to  South  Africa,  I  wrote  "  Helen's  Ordeal," 
and  in  the  next  September  I  sent  Watts  a  copy.  He  thanked 
me  for  the  book,  which  he  would,  he  wrote,  of  course  read 
with  great  interest.  He  was  most  sincerely  glad  that  the 
book  had  been  approved.  Everything  seemed  to  be  well 
with  me,  so  the  world  was  nice  !  After  having  read  "  Helen's 
Ordeal,"  he  wrote  in  a  kind  strain  about  it.  He  thought 
there  was  a  fresher  air  and  clearer  atmosphere  than  in  my 
last,  and  it  ended  more  satisfactorily,  a  very  important  thing, 
in   his   opinion.       He  wrote   lengthily  on   the  book  and  of 


i84       REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

thoughts  which  it  had  suggested  to  him.  Then  he  continued, 
saying  he  hoped  I  would  go  on  writing,  and  write  of  artists, 
the  Hves  and  characters  and  aspirations  of  these  not  having 
been  made  use  of  by  noveHsts  often,  as  literary  men,  as  a  rule, 
cared  little  about  art,  a  subject  he  said  I  was  perfectly 
competent  to  speak  about.  He  ended  his  letter  by  saying 
that  having  absolutely  decided  that  he  would  paint  no  more 
portraits  for  money  he  was  now  painting  several !  He  had 
become  interested,  he  wrote,  in  the  institution  of  the  "  Home 
Arts,"  and  his  reason  for  painting  these  portraits  was  to  enable 
him  to  give  it  a  little  substantial  aid.  "  I  do  not  consider  that 
in  doing  this  I  am  departing  from  my  forced  determination, 
do  you  ? "  I  certainly  thought  he  was,  though  I  was  in  no  wise 
inclined  to  criticise  adversely  such  a  departure.  In  a  subse- 
quent letter,  referring  to  his  doing  what  he  said  he  never 
would  do  again — painting  portraits  for  money — he  wrote 
he  hardly  thought  any  person  would  have  made  him  do  it  for 
any  private  reason.  He  was  not,  however,  after  working 
quite  sixty  years,  without  anxiety  about  his  own  necessary  ex- 
penses, and  there  were  none  that  were  not  necessary !  Now 
that  he  was  better,  he  was  painting  on  the  second  "  Court  of 
Death,"  which  he  hoped,  if  he  lived  so  long,  to  finish  by  his 
eightieth  birthday !     He  hoped  there  was  something  in  it. 

In  February  1895  he  read  an  article  I  wrote  in  The 
Spectator  on  our  mutual  friend,  Mrs.  Thornycroft,  the 
sculptress.  He  wrote  he  thought  my  article  "on  dear 
Mrs.  Thornycroft"  was  excellent.  She  had  the  element 
of  a  great  character  in  a  very  unusual  degree,  and  had 
on  the  whole  a  very  prosperous  life.  He  opened  this 
letter  after  he  had  closed  it,  because,  in  reading  another 
article  in  the  same  Spectator,  he  found  it  was  said,  or 
certainly  implied,  that  gambling  in  itself  was  not  immoral ! 
How  could   Mr.   Hutton,  who  was,  he  believed,  a  religious 


PHOTOGRAPH  OF  G.  F.  WATTS 

His  Picture  "The  Court  of  Death**  as  background 


U^?-~?^-Hy,ZiC-^         '-^^^  cO^      f^**^       ^^ 


% 


f'b^ 


f/' 


m^nmarwrimr- ' 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     185 

man,  allow  such  principles  to  be  put  forth  in  his  paper! 
He  continued  in  an  excited  strain.  Would  the  Master 
in  whom  he  (Mr.  Hutton)  believed  (he  will  not  say  pro- 
fesses to  believe  because  that  would  imply  insincerity),  say 
that  any  action  or  habit  which  was  known  to  be  often  the 
cause  of  suicide,  of  forgery,  of  ruin,  was  not  in  itself 
immoral  I  On  lower  grounds,  was  it  not  immoral  to 
throw  away  on  reckless  personal  amusement  means  that 
might,  moderately  well  employed,  make  the  happiness  and 
well-being  of  thousands?  Was  it  not  immoral  to  take 
without  giving  some  equivalent? — this  last,  on  the  lowest 
grounds,  was  base  and  unmanly.  If  all  this  could  not  be 
put  down  by  law,  and  perhaps  it  could  not,  here  came  in  the 
function  of  the  public  press,  the  tone  of  which  seemed,  in 
its  absence  of  appeal  to  any  religious  or  moral  principle, 
utterly  bad  and  disgraceful!  "  If  I  had  any  words  I  would 
write — oh!  for  one  who  would  write  like  a  Hebrew!  The 
only  one  who  did  so,  I  think,  was  dear  John  Ruskin — the 
only  one  who,  while  denouncing  the  bad,  told  us  what  we 
should  do!  It  was  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, alas!"  In  the  same  letter  Watts  wrote  that  he 
thought  that  he  had  been  let  off  the  grip  of  the  fiend 
(influenza)  "which  runs  riot  in  the  house  here,"  in  con- 
sideration of  nearly  two  months  lost  in  London  from  ill- 
ness, "but  I  feel  very  much  as  if  'the  avenger  of  blood' 
were  behind  me,  and  I  want  to  do  so  much ! "  I  had  seen, 
as  long  as  I  had  known  Watts,  a  tendency  in  him  to  allow 
certain  subjects  to  become  focalised  as  bugbears  in  his  mind, 
and  as  his  fits  of  nervous  excitement,  "  not  to  say  irritability  " 
(to  use  his  own  words),  increased  with  great  age,  his 
indignation  at  the  evil  of  certain  customs  knew  no  bounds. 
He  deprecated  gambling  and  racing  in  the  strongest  terms. 
These  were  the  subjects  of  letters  he  wrote  when  clearly 


i86       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

under  such  excitement.     The  most  striking  pictorial  outcome 
of  these  abhorrences  is  the  "Jonah,"  a  work  of  inspiration. 

In  the  autumn  of  1893  he  wrote  in  special  anxiety 
about  money,  and  wanted  to  sell  some  of  his  pictures, 
as  he  said  he  had  lost  a  considerable  part  of  his  income. 
Several  letters  came  on  the  subject,  as  friends  of  mine 
were  likely  purchasers.  Before  giving  a  list  of  the  prices 
of  those  he  wished  to  sell,  he  wrote  that  "The  Ghost  of 
a  Ship"  and  its  companion  he  was  unwilling  to  part  with, 
as  they  were  reminiscences  of  a  very  delightful  series  of 
impressions  which  could  never  be  his  any  more,  as  he 
should  never  see  the  South  again.  "A  Reverie,"  a  painting 
which  he,  in  writing,  called  "the  young  girl  with  the  Indian 
purple  drapery  and  lapis  lazuli  background,"  was  a  favourite 
picture  of  his — one  of  the  best  things  he  thought  he  had 
ever  painted  or  ever  should  paint,  and  which  he  should  be 
very  sorry  to  lose.  However,  that  was  the  one  chosen,  and 
he  wrote  again  thanking  me  for  my  good  offices,  but  saying 
he  was  sorry  to  lose  his  picture.  When  Watts  regretted 
losing  a  picture,  it  meant  not  so  much  parting  with  it  himself 
as  separating  it  from  those  which  he  meant,  at  his  death,  to 
belong  to  the  nation  as  worthily  representing  his  life's  work. 
He  would  not  part  with  several  of  his  drawings  also  on  this 
account.  Watts  was  sufficiently  human  to  desire  that  all 
his  best  work  should  be  permanently  appreciated,  and  there- 
fore included  in  his  splendid  legacy  to  his  country.  I  think, 
when  considering  the  impulses  which  moved  Watts'  generous 
patriotism  in  reserving  his  life's  best  work  as  a  legacy  for 
his  country, — impulses  not  the  less  beautiful  because  purely 
instinctive  and  only  semi-conscious, — we  must  look  further 
than  his  expressed  intentions  can  take  us.  "If  circumstances 
had  permitted,"  he  wrote  very  shortly  before  his  death, 
"  I  would  have  done  my  work  as  Pictor  Ignotus,  leaving  it 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     187 

to  say  what  it  might  when  I  should  have  done  with  it." 
IdeaHty — tenacity  in  living  in  ideas — is  the  salient  feature  in 
the  Celtic  nature.  It  is  ideas  which  most  powerfully  incite 
the  race  to  action  ;  ideas  which  have  absolutely  nothing  to 
do  with  material  indulgences  or  necessities.  In  early  life, 
stung  by  circumstances  into  a  resolve  to  establish  an  in- 
dividual and  independent  position,  Watts  conceived  the 
idea  which,  far  and  beyond  every  other,  became  the  deepest 
interest  to  him  in  his  existence  ;  the  idea  of  devoting  his 
life  to  his  country  by  throwing  his  whole  self  into  the  some- 
thing which  he  could  leave  as  a  legacy  to  that  country. 
This  idea  became  the  paramount  ruling  passion  of  his  life, 
becoming  ingrained  in  his  nature  with  that  tenacity  with 
which  ideas  can  seize  the  nature  of  the  Celt — a  tenacity 
whose  hold  is  far  more  inevitably  clenching  than  that  of 
mere  loyalty  to  a  conscious  principle  or  intention.  Watts' 
life  became  from  early  days  concentrated  in  a  secret  passion 
for  an  idea  to  which  he  made  everything  else  subservient. 
This  attitude  of  nature  was  but  a  splendid  developement  of 
the  same  spurring  force  which  inspires  action  in  the  lives 
of  the  Celtic  peasants  whom  we  found  in  the  wild  country 
in  Brittany.  Women  would  walk  miles  carrying  heavy  loads 
in  order  to  gain  two  or  three  sous.  The  sous  in  themselves 
were  not  the  inspiring  motive  for  the  painful  endurance ; 
but  as  something,  however  small,  to  add  to  the  little  fund 
accumulating  to  buy  some  piece  of  furniture  to  leave  as  an 
heirloom  to  their  children  and  their  children's  children,  the 
sous  became  precious  and  worth  any  amount  of  hardship  and 
toil.  It  is  the  instinctive  sense  of  a  moral  beauty  existing 
in  sacrificing  ease  in  material  conditions  to  an  idea,  which 
gives  the  touch  of  ideality  to  these  poorest  of  peasants,  and 
which  alike  inspired  the  genius  of  our  great  Celtic  artist. 
When  Watts  became  nervously,  and  apparently  unreasonably 


i88       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.   WATTS 

anxious  about  money,  it  was  in  no  wise  that  he  put  any 
value  on  money  as  money,  but  because  he  dreaded  lest 
financial  difficulties  might  oblige  him  to  infringe  on  the,  to 
him,  sacred  ground  of  this  fixed  idea — the  feeling  that  the 
smaller  things  in  life  might  encroach  upon  the  greater. 
Instinctively  the  Celt  realises  that  idealism  is  higher  than 
materialism ;  his  essential  needs  are  more  satisfied  by  an 
indulgence  in  his  sense  of  moral  beauty  than  by  the  sense 
of  physical  comfort.  It  may  be  that  his  absorption  in  ideas 
arises  from  a  paramount  necessity  to  follow  an  innate  instinct 
rather  than  from  the  conscious  faith  of  an  Eschylus  pro- 
pounded by  the  words  so  eternally  true,  "  The  good  will 
prevail "  ;  nevertheless  such  an  absorption  rules  his  nature 
from  the  higher,  not  from  the  lower  plane,  and  finds  its 
expression  in  sacrifice  of  the  lower  self.  It  is  to  such  a 
sacrifice  of  materialistic  interests  to  an  idea  that  we  owe 
the  splendid  legacy  of  work  from  Watts'  hand.  It  was  always 
a  matter  of  surprise  to  him,  he  wrote,  that  his  work  was 
cared  for,  though  he  felt  it  would  be  most  ungrateful  to  say 
and  think  that  it  was  not  a  great  deal  more  so  than  he  had 
any  right  to  expect,  neither  his  subjects  nor  style  having 
in  them  the  elements  of  success.  In  the  same  letter 
he  says  he  had  had  always  a  difficulty  in  selling  his  wares, 
and  would  never,  if  he  could  help  it,  take  a  penny  unless 
for  the  purpose  of  distributing  to  the  necessitous.  As 
it  was,  he  put  by  a  percentage  out  of  his  receipts  for  that 
purpose.  His  instincts  were  outraged  by  asking  money  for 
what  might  not  be  money's  worth.  He  wanted  money  very 
much,  as  he  had  lately  been  considerably  impoverished,  and 
appeals  were  being  made  to  him  in  all  directions  under  the 
impression  that  he  was  a  wealthy  man.  This  made  him  miser- 
able, for  he  often  felt  that  his  own  comforts  were  something 
taken  away  from  others.     The  commercial  side  was  always 


SICKNESS,    TRAVELS,   AND   OLD    AGE     189 

extremely  disagreeable  to  him,  not  from  any  contempt  of 
work,  as  he  considered  the  worthiest  life  was  that  which 
was  earned  by  the  money  gained  by  honourable  work,  and 
was  a  life  to  be  honoured.  People  must  either  be  soldiers  or 
agriculturists  or  traders,  callings  all  equally  honourable  when 
honourably  pursued,  but  Watts  objected  to  a  member  of 
the  aristocracy  ("a  position  I  admire  and  would  like  to 
belong  to ")  and  felt  a  contempt  for  a  member  of  this  class 
being  a  horse-dealer  or  a  poulterer,  which  he  was  when 
he  spent,  or  made,  or  lost  his  money  on  that  most  de- 
moralising institution,  the  turf;  or  by  selling  the  result  of 
his  butchery  in  a  battue,  a  disgraceful  and  unmanly  amuse- 
ment. He  was  getting  over  illness  when  thus  expressing 
these  feelings,  but  strong-rooted  dislike,  indeed  abhorrence 
of  certain  proceedings  very  generally  indulged  in,  had 
become  permanent  with  Watts,  and  though  his  expressions 
varied  in  intensity  with  his  health  and  the  condition  of  his 
nerves, — becoming  especially  drastic  when  personally  he 
came  in  contact  with  disastrous  results  from  such  proceed- 
ings— his  views  and  principles  regarding  them  never  altered. 
A  happier  mood  of  Watts'  nature  evinced  itself  in  the 
picture,  "  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity,"  painted  when  he 
was  very  old.  In  1902,  when  we  were  looking  together 
at  it  in  his  studio,  he  took  great  pleasure  in  describing  the 
intention  he  had  had  in  painting  it,  and  especial  delight 
in  telling  me  that  Mr.  John  Morley  had  appreciated  and 
had  understood  it.  His  description  of  it  recalled  the  letter 
written  at  "sunrise"  sixteen  years  before  on  Easter  Tuesday, 
1886,  when  he  said,  in  answer  to  my  description  of  the 
walk  I  had  taken  to  church  two  days  before  :  "I  am  pleased 
in  your  pleasure !  The  country  must  indeed  be  beautiful, 
and  I  understand  its  influence.  Such  grace  and  appa- 
rent   beneficence    should    indeed    awaken   a   corresponding 


I90       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

something  in  the  mind  of  the  beholder."  In  this  picture 
of  "  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity"  he  explained  to  me  how  he 
intended  to  convey  the  meaning  that  the  belligerent  element 
in  Faith,  as  she  had  been  conceived  by  the  Churches, 
succumbs  under  the  beneficence  and  loveliness  in  Nature, 
while  Hope  and  Charity,  in  tune  with  the  gentler  influences 
of  this  Nature,  guide  her  to  the  reviving  spring  of  Truth 
where,  unloosening  her  sword,  she  washes  her  blood-stained 
foot  in  its  waters.  He  told  me  he  particularly  wished  this 
picture  included  in  those  I  was  choosing  at  that  time  for 
the  Leighton  House  exhibition,  so  that  I  might  describe 
his  idea  to  the  people  whom  I  took  round  the  studios, 
especially  to  those  belonging  to  the  poorer  classes.  He 
repeated  the  wish  to  his  man  Thompson,  who  was  to  see 
to  the  removing  of  the  pictures  ;  but,  unfortunately,  when 
the  time  came.  Watts  wrote  saying  he  thought  he  must 
work  further  on  it  before  it  was  seen. 

He  was  ever  anxious  to  bring  quieting  thoughts  and 
feelings  to  those  in  whom  the  harsh  judgments  in  human 
creeds  carry  with  them  fear  and  alarms.  His  sense  of 
justice  was  outraged  by  the  idea  that  human  beings 
should  be  punished  for  what  they  could  not  help.  From 
being  himself  most  sensitive  to  pain,  physical  and  mental, 
he  had  a  deep  compassion  for  all  kinds  of  suffering.  He 
felt  almost  too  much  sympathy  with  it  at  times  to  allow 
him  to  dwell  on  it,  realising,  especially  when  he  was  very 
old,  that  any  strong  emotion  led  to  conditions  tending  to 
the  loss  of  his  mental  balance.  The  idea  that  any  human 
organisations  such  as  Churches  should  create  terror  in  the 
simple  and  the  semi-educated  by  scares  of  such  retribution, 
which  no  action  nor  control  of  their  thoughts  could  obviate, 
and  thus  create  mental  suffering-  which  was  one  of  the 
worst  to  bear,  seemed  an  abomination  to  Watts.     Through 


SICKNESS,   TRAVELS,    AND   OLD   AGE     191 

his  art  he  tried  in  every  possible  way  to  inspire  feelings 
which  should  counteract  the  terror  of  inevitable  Punishment 
and  Death.  He  told  me  that  the  thought  of  Death  had 
been  present  with  him  from  his  earliest  days.  Personal 
dread  of  it  had  concentrated  itself  more  in  the  feeling  of 
distress  at  possibly  going  out  of  this  world  before  having 
given  the  message  he  felt  entrusted  to  leave  behind  him, 
than  in  any  special  desire  to  live.  In  his  case  the  pain  of 
life  had  often  weighed  down  the  scales  and  left  the  side 
capable  of  feeling  joy  very  empty.  In  talking  together 
we  always  referred  to  Death  as  his  "  own  familiar,"  and 
he  dwelt  often  on  the  great  desire  he  had  of  leading  those 
who  dreaded  Death  to  regard  it  merely  as  an  inevitable 
passing  stage  in  the  journey  home. 

In  this  picture  of  "Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity,"  Nature 
— kind  Mother  Nature — was  implied  to  be  the  beneficent 
healing  influence  to  which  humanity  should  resign  its 
doubts,  its  fights  and  fears,  assured  that  her  beauty  is  a 
part  of  the  divine  essence  transmitted  to  us  as  a  blessing 
to  be  enjoyed  through  that  echoing  chord  implanted  in  our 
own  natures.  This  indeed,  surely,  must  be  ever  the  highest 
artists'  creed  !  In  early  days  Watts  had  painted  "  Humanity 
in  the  Lap  of  Earth."  ^  Now,  when  near  the  end  of  the 
long  journey,  he  seemed  to  turn  more  than  ever  to  the 
belief  in  the  power  of  the  Great  Mother  to  guard,  nurture, 
and  protect  her  children. 

^  See  illustration. 


CHAPTER   VII 

LEIGHTON 

It  is  difficult,  even  at  this  distance  of  time,  to  estimate  the 
sense  of  immense  loss  which  Leighton's  death  caused  to  his 
friends.  In  the  autumn  of  1894  he  went  to  Bayreuth, 
and  it  seemed  that  that  extra  exertion  hastened  the 
developement  of  the  disease  he  died  of  It  was  one  long 
journey  and  back  over  and  above  the  holiday  travels  he 
usually  took  every  autumn,  and  the  very  interest  of  the 
performances,  he  told  me  while  there,  was  a  great  strain 
upon  him.  When  he  left  Bayreuth  he  travelled  straight 
back  to  London  and  put  on  an  additional  spurt  of  working 
energy  in  order  to  finish  the  panel  he  was  presenting  to 
the  Royal  Exchange — "The  Early  Britons  Bartering  with 
the  Phoenicians,"  He  worked  at  it  incessantly  for  three 
weeks,  and  then  went,  as  was  his  wont,  to  Scotland  and 
afterwards  to  Italy.  Very  soon  after  his  return  from  Italy, 
in  the  early  days  of  November,  he  was  seized  by  the  first 
attack  of  angina  pectoris  on  reaching  the  Athenaeum  one 
evening  after  a  concert  at  St.  James's  Hall.  While  in 
Italy  in  the  following  autumn,  1895,  he  wrote  he  was  no 
better — "  rather  worse  " — and  on  his  return  told  us  he  had 
something  like  fifteen  attacks  of  pain  in  the  day.  He  had 
never  disguised  from  us  that  he  was  steadily  getting  worse, 
yet  the  shock  when  the  end  really  came  seemed  as  great 
as  if  we  had  been  totally  unprepared. 

Leighton  took   a  unique  place  in  his  friends'  affections, 

193 


LEIGHTON  193 

His  friendship  gave  a  brighter  colour  to  the  whole  of  life. 
One  felt  twenty  years  younger  after  a  good  talk  with  him. 
He  seemed  to  bring  sunlight  into  the  mind ;  a  fair,  whole- 
some, strengthening  sunlight,  that  seemed  to  beam  on  you 
in  order  to  do  you  good,  mentally,  morally,  and  physically. 

Watts  was  in  Surrey  when  all  this  came  to  an  end. 
He  wrote  the  same  day:  "This  is  dreadful!"  Further  on 
he  said  that  the  loss  to  the  world  was  so  great,  that  he 
almost  felt  ashamed  to  let  his  personal  grief  have  so  large 
a  place.  He  had  enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  and  affectionate 
friendship  of  five-and-forty  years  with  Leighton.  "  I  am 
glad  you  knew  him  so  well,  I  am  glad  for  any  one  who  knew 
him.  No  one  will  ever  know  such  another.  Alas !  alas  1 
alas!"  He  ended  by  writing  that,  for  the  moment,  he  felt 
as  if  he  could  never  go  up  the  Academy  steps  again. 

Letters  from  Watts  on  the  subject  of  our  mutual  loss 
continued  coming  at  very  short  interval  for  many  weeks. 
Pages  and  pages  of  his  smallest  writing  expressed  his 
intense  admiration  and  reverence  for  Leighton  and  his 
passionate  grief  at  his  death.  He  wrote  that  it  was 
indeed  a  staggering  blow.  A  great  light  was  extinguished, 
and  for  himself  his  whole  life  was  saddened  and  darkened. 
Watts'  description  of  Leighton's  nature  in  these  letters  is 
fine,  and  most  true.  "  A  magnificent  intellectual  capacity, 
an  unerring  and  instantaneous  spring  upon  the  point  to 
unravel,  a  generosity,  a  sympathy,  a  tact  (perhaps  one  of 
the  most  valuable  qualities  in  our  modern  times),  a  lovable 
and  sweet  reasonableness,  yet  no  weakness,  .  .  .  For  my 
own  part,  and  I  tell  you  life  can  never  be  the  same  to 
me  again,  my  own  grief  is  merged  in  the  sense  I  have 
of  the  appalling  loss  to  the  nation,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  no 
less."  Further  on  he  writes  he  would  well  have  consented 
to  see  him  no  more,  even  to  be  forgotten  by  him,  or  even  to 

N 


194       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

be  thrown  off  by  him,  if  that  could  have  ensured  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  destiny.  .  .  .  Watts  believed  he  was  capable  of 
influencing  the  destiny  of  the  nation.  .  .  .  He  reminded  me 
how  he  had  always  looked  forward  to  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  That  came  about,  and  he  believed  the  rest 
would  have  been  but  a  question  of  time.  "  I  am  glad  you 
have  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
any  time."  Speaking  in  a  later  letter  of  the  kind  of  affec- 
tion Leighton  inspired,  Watts  compared  it  to  that  kind  of 
friendship  that  takes  the  whole  suffering  humanity  into  a 
personal  embrace,  such  was  Lord  Shaftesbury  —  such 
Gordon!  Such  was  Janie  Senior's,  who,  much  as  she 
loved  her  boy,  would  have  sent  him  out  in  a  life-boat  at  the 
almost  certainty  of  drowning  in  the  absolute  certainty  that 
the  risk  of  sacrifice  was  due  and  a  divine  duty.  That  was 
a  sentiment  ihdX  falling  England  had  need  of.  In  a  further 
letter:  "As  for  myself,  personally,  I  can  say  that  I  admired 
and  loved  him  (Leighton)  as  much  as  one  man  can  another. 
He  may  have  given  little  in  return,  but  that  would  make 
no  difference.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  receive!  I 
hope  you  are  at  work — nothing  is  so  good  for  us  mentally, 
morally,  and  physically  as  work." 

"A  lovable  and  sweet  reasonableness,  yet  no  weakness," 
describes  in  perfect  words  what  made  Leighton  so  invaluable 
an  influence  over  Watts.  The  balance  in  Leighton's  mind 
and  nature  generally  made  his  friendship  a  source  of  strength 
to  Watts,  though  perhaps  influencing  more  his  imagination 
than  his  actions,  more  his  whole  condition  than  any  definite 
action.  He  consulted  Leighton  before  taking  the  three 
most  important  steps  in  his  personal  life,  but  he  did  not 
with  regard  to  any  of  these  cases  follow  Leighton's  advice. 
Indeed  Watts  asked  advice  in  all  cases,  I  think,  more  to 
sound  the  opinions   of  others  on  his  proposed   action   than 


LEIGHTON  195 

to  invite  guidance.  It  was  generally  a  necessity  in  his 
nature  which  he  was  not  prone  to  discuss  but  very  rarely 
that  instigated  his  intentions.  Still  there  was  a  strength 
in  the  atmosphere  which  radiated  from  Leighton,  though 
he  was  so  gentle  and  merry  a  companion,  on  which  Watts 
relied  much  in  his  daily  life.  Leighton  had  the  boldness 
of  absolute  purity  and  intense  sincerity  in  all  his  dealings 
with  the  world.  There  were  no  creases,  no  secret  hidden 
caves  in  his  nature  as  regarded  his  action  with  others, 
though  he  was  reserved  with  the  outside  world  as  to  his 
own  personal  kingdom.  He  worshipped  with  absolute 
devotion  at  the  shrine  of  beauty,  and  though  he  did  not 
aim,  like  Watts,  at  illustrating  the  poetry  of  ideas  in  his 
art,  but  rather  the  poetry  of  the  actual  visible  world,  his 
worship  of  nature  was  no  less  reverent  and  elevated,  and 
both  these  great  artists  found  the  deepest  ground  of 
sympathy  in  their  mutual  passion  for  beauty. 

Leighton  was  the  only  friend  among  great  men  with 
whom  Watts  was  really  intimate  in  his  daily  life.  When 
Tennyson  died,  he  wrote  to  me  how  greatly  he  felt  his  loss  : 
"Tennyson's  death  affects  me  much.  I  only  saw  him  at 
long  intervals,  but  he  was  always  there  for  the  world  and 
for  me.  I  have  been  asked  to  be  one  of  the  pall-bearers, 
which  I  feel  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  honours  ever  done  me." 
Again,  in  another  letter,  he  told  me  he  was  laid  up  with  an 
inflamed  foot,  the  result  of  a  mosquito  bite,  and  deplored  that 
this  prevented  his  being  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  Tenny- 
son's funeral,  which  he  had  been  invited  to  be.  He  would, 
he  says,  have  considered  it  the  greatest  honour  in  his  life. 
When  Browning  died,  he  wrote  from  Surrey  that  the  loss  of 
Browning  was  a  thing  it  was  difficult  to  make  up  one's  mind 
to,  though  he  lived  a  long  and  full  life,  and  that  the  better 
part  of  him  could  never  die  where  the  Anglo-Saxon  language 


196       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

was  spoken.  "  What  a  position  to  occupy!"  He  had  known 
him  long  years,  but  could  not  pretend  to  have  been  acquainted 
with  him  as  I  was,  but  his  acquaintance  with  him  would 
always  be  a  source  of  great  satisfaction.  He  certainly  had 
known  the  two  great  poets  of  the  age — poets  who  would 
have  been  great  in  any  age ;  he  knew  them,  he  might  say, 
well,  but  Tennyson  most  of  the  two.  In  the  same  letter  he 
adds,  "  No  doubt  you  have  read  Leighton's  discourse  ;  what 
a  man  !  "  The  result  of  his  labours  at  this  time,  he  continues, 
does  not  encourage  him  very  much.  He  thought,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  it  was  good  to  compare  ourselves  with  the  best, 
but  it  may  be  done  too  much,  not  only  he  believed  for  our 
happiness,  but  also  for  our  success — indeed,  the  less  we 
thought  whether  our  work  was  good  or  bad,  the  better ! 
Perhaps  the  less  people  think  about  themselves,  even  if  it  be 
in  the  endeavour  to  improve,  the  better.  All  we  have  to  do 
is  to  aim  at  the  best  in  all  things.  Life  is  not  long  enough  for 
anything  else.  Writing  to  me  at  Herd's  Hill,  April  15, 
1882,  with  regard  to  Rossetti's  death,  he  says  that  although 
he  had  been  prepared,  he  was  still  shocked  by  Rossetti's 
death.  What  a  light  he  ought  to  have  been !  Watts 
thought  he  was  certainly  the  greatest  genius  he  had  ever 
known,  and  acquainted  as  he  was  with  Tennyson  and 
Browning,  this  seemed  much  to  say  ;  but  Rossetti  had  a  fire, 
a  something.  Watts  thought,  that  made  him  quite  unlike 
other  men.  He  feels  that  Rossetti  ought  to  have  been  with 
Dante  and  Milton,  far  out  of  the  reach  of  doubts  ;  but  he 
rather  dreads  the  results  of  the  proposed  exhibition  of  the 
works.  It  must  be  intensely  interesting  to  himself  and  to 
Rossetti's  friends,  but  he  could  not  help  dreading  the  ordeal. 
From  what  I  gathered  from  the  manner  each  discussed  the 
other,  though  Burne- Jones  was,  as  an  artist,  one  whom  Watts 
greatly  admired,  they  had  not  otherwise  come  into  any  close 


LEIGHTON  197 

intimacy.  The  depth  of  sincerity  and  loyalty  in  Leighton's 
nature,  united  with  the  most  generous  and  kindly  impulses, 
not  only  inspired  Watts  with  a  reverent  admiration,  but  also 
with  a  confidence  and  strength  which  overruled  his  self-depre- 
ciation and  extreme  timidity,  and  even  the  secret  tortuous 
workings  of  his  alarms.  I  have  seldom  met  any  one  who,  like 
Leighton,  so  actively  inspired  the  feeling  that  every  word  a 
friend  might  say  to  him  was  considered  absolutely  sacred.  He 
possessed  a  natural  distinction  which  made  it  an  impossibility 
for  him  to  speak  otherwise  than  he  would  speak  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  friend.  Watts,  therefore,  felt  him  to  be  an 
absolutely  safe  repository  for  his  "secrets."  Leighton  had 
a  rare  and  enviable  power  of  inspiring  his  friends  with  a 
feeling  .of  greater  self-respect  after  they  had  been  in  his 
company.  To  offer  friends  the  smallest  grain  of  flattery  he 
would  have  considered  as  great  an  insult  to  them  as  he 
would  have  felt  it  to  be  had  it  been  offered  to  himself. 
Moreover,  Watts  knew  well  that  when  Leighton  appreciated 
his  work,  that  his  praise  was  worth  having !  The  power  to 
criticise  was  as  certain  as  was  the  sincerity  of  its  utterance. 
Every  picture  Leighton  painted  was  a  subject  of  the  greatest 
interest  to  Watts.  It  was  Watts'  discussions  on  Leighton's 
genius,  and  his  anxiety  to  prove  to  me  the  great  value  in 
his  art,  which  first  made  me  understand  it  from  the  highest 
point  of  view.  I  had  been  so  much  influenced  by  the  pre- 
Raphaelites'  work  that  it  took  me  some  time  really  to  under- 
stand Leighton.  In  the  letter  before  referred  to,  written  in 
1882,  when  Watts  was  laid  up  at  Brighton,  and  he  says, 
"  You  may  imagine  what  it  was  to  me  to  lose  Leighton's 
music!"  he  continued,  "Write  and  tell  me  what  you  think 
of  his  '  Phryne,'  I  am  most  anxious  to  know."  All  through 
his  correspondence  with  me  I  find  most  admiring  allusions  to 
Leighton's  work.     When  referring  to  it  he  would  say,  that 


I9S       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Leighton's  paintings  and  statues  were  ''  achieveviejits,^'  his  own 
were  only  "suggestions."  Above  all  he  admired  Leighton's 
drawings  and  sketches  in  chalk  and  pencil,  and  the  sketches 
modelled  in  clay.  Watts  maintained  that  these  were  as  fine 
or  finer  than  anything  of  the  kind  that  had  ever  been  done  in 
ihe  past  or  in  the  present.^  All  Leighton's  work  contains 
certain  qualities  which  Watts  had  possessed  for  a  time 
when  he  worked  more  from  nature  than  he  did  later  ;  but 
though  it  was  for  other  qualities  Watts  was  seeking  when 
he  was  creating  his  "  Anthems," — works  for  which  he  found 
it  impossible  to  use  models — he  sorely  deplored  the  loss  of 
the  power  of  completer  finish  which  he  possessed  when  he 
painted  "Choosing,"  or  indeed  the  much  earlier  picture  of 
"The  Wounded  Heron,"  After  he  had  recovered  this  early 
picture,  having  for  many  years  almost  forgotten  its  existence, 
he  wrote,  "  When  you  have  a  moment,  pop  into  the  gallery, 
where  you  will  see  something  which  puts  me  to  the  greatest 
confusion!"  He  felt  that  having  achieved  such  work  as 
that  shown  in  the  painting  of  the  "  Heron,"  he  ought  to 
have  done  so  much  more  in  his  long  life.  He  regretted  with 
remorse  that  he  had  not  secured  a  power  of  painting  with 
the  same  definite  precision  which  his  early  works  certainly 
had,  so  that  he  might  have  been  enabled  to  record  his  ideas 
more  distinctly  when  working  on  his  "  Anthems."  These, 
he  would  often  repeat,  were  but  suggestions,  not  achieve- 
ments. Those  who,  like  myself,  were  in  sympathy  with  his 
art,  saw  what  he  had  intended  in  it,  but, — "  put  them  into 
the  future — a  hundred  years  hence — they  will  be  mere  curio- 
sities except  to  a  few  who  will  care  to  take  the  trouble  to 
search  out  their  meaning,  for  they  are  only  indications  of  a 

'  The  large  collection  of  Leighton's  drawings  and  sketches  preserved  for 
the  public  in  his  own  house  amply  confirms  Watts'  estimate  of  their  unrivalled 
value. 


LEIGHTON  199 

direction  of  thought,  not  complete  as  pictorial  utterances."  In 
1902,  when  speaking  to  me  in  terms  of  unbounded  admiration 
of  Miss  Fortescue  Brickdale's  work,  he  said  to  me,  "I  feel 
inclined  to  throw  away  my  palette  and  brushes.  What  are 
my  things  by  the  side  of  such  stuff  as  hers."  He  said  he  felt 
almost  knocked  over  by  them,  the  vividness  of  conception 
having  been  carried  out  so  forcibly  and  so  adequately  by 
complete  execution. 

Beyond  the  undoubted  fact  that  both  Watts  and  Leighton 
were  poet-artists,  it  would,  I  think,  be  difficult  to  find  two 
natures  more  different.  Leighton  drank  the  elixir  of  his  joy 
in  beauty  straight  from  a  source  outside  his  own  nature, 
whereas  Watts'  own  nature  had  to  vibrate  with  a  sensi- 
bility caused  by  personal  emotion  before  his  imagination 
became  inspired  ; — in  other  words.  Nature  had  to  find  her  way 
into  his  brain  through  the  medium  of  his  own  interests, 
sympathies,  and  affections  before  she  could  influence  his 
creations  in  art.  His  humanitarian  philanthropy,  every 
impression  in  his  personal  life,  everything  that  aroused  his 
real  interest,  or  even  that  he  thought  ought  to  arouse  his 
interest, — all  were  forced  into  the  service  of  his  art.  He  was  so 
great  an  artist,  so  clever  and  ingenious  a  craftsman,  his  mind 
was  so  powerfully  concentrated  in  his  work,  that  the  construc- 
tion of  ideas  in  paint — provided  always  that  sufficient  excite- 
ment gave  the  necessary  impetus — emerged  in  creations  only 
rivalled  in  imaginative  power  by  those  of  the  artist  whose  work 
stamped  itself  most  forcibly  on  his  imagination  when  he  was 
young,  namely,  "  Orgagna."  ^  Watts'  ideas  were  inspired 
by  the   genius   and   temper  of  his  own    generation,   by   the 

1  Watts,  when  referring  to  the  works  by  Orgagna  in  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa, 
spoke  of  these.,  jn  terms  of  unbounded  admiration.  He  placed  Orgagna's  work 
higher  than  any  other  imaginative  work  he  knew.  He  would  say  he  felt  he  could 
judge  what  was  best  in  art.  He  knew  how  to  place  the  giants,  but  of  any  other 
work  he  was  no  critic.     Every  one  seemed  to  be  cleverer  than  he  was  himself! 


200       REMINISCENCES   OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

personal  influence  of  those  under  whose  sway  his  genius  was 
for  the  time  affected.  Leighton,  though  as  a  man  Enghsh  to 
the  bactibone,  as  an  artist  saw  nothing  but  what  could  exist  at 
any  epoch  in  the  civilisations  of  all  times.  In  his  search  and 
passion  for  beauty  he  could  not  localise.  The  past  and  pre- 
sent, he  felt,  should  unite  in  art.  He  would  say,  "There 
should  be  no  such  thing  as  nationality  among  artists.  The 
true  brotherhood  and  sisterhood  ignore  all  differences  of 
period,  clan,  or  race."^ 

Leighton's  mind  knew,  and  could  define  accurately  the 
limits  of  its  powers  ;  he  knew  exactly  what  he  knew,  and  leant 
on  no  other  judgment  but  his  own,  though  acknowledged  by  all 
who  were  really  intimate  with  him  to  have  been  the  most  truly 
modest  of  men.  Watts  never  felt  sure  of  his  ground,  hence 
was  very  curious  to  learn  the  opinion  others  had  of  his  work, 
the  ground  which  was  most  assuredly  his  own  being  the  out- 
come of  an  imagination,  the  expression  of  which  in  art  required 
often  a  translation.  Before  even  the  technical  qualities  in 
Watts'  art  were  adequately  valued  and  understood  as  those 
which  best  carried  out  his  ideas,  the  conceptions  of  his 
imagination  had  to  be  grasped.  One  cannot  help  those  tire- 
some words  objective  and  subjective  coming  to  mind  when 
thinking  of  Leighton  and  Watts,  the  one  was  so  obviously 

'  Du  Maurier  tried  his  best  to  find  out  that  Leighton  had  some  involved  racial 
heredity — that  he  was  not  tout  bonnement  English, but  he  failed.  Leighton  had  very 
little  time  and  no  inclination  to  examine  his  pedigree,  but  his  friends,  Sir  Baldwin 
and  Lady  Leighton,  were  bent  on  establishing  the  fact  that  he  had  the  same 
ancestors  as  they  had.  I  was  staying  with  friends  in  the  autumn  of  1895,  '"  ^he 
Isle  of  Mull,  when  the  late  Mrs.  Sutherland  Orr,  Leighton's  sister,  joined  me. 
While  there  together,  a  letter  arrived  from  Lady  Leighton  (now  Lady  Leighton- 
Warren)  in  which  she  unravelled  the  ancestry  of  the  family.  As  I  remember  the 
facts  related  in  this  letter,  Sir  Baldwin  Leighton  and  Lord  Leighton  had  the  same 
ancestor  in  the  thirteeth  or  fourteenth  century,  a  Leighton  of  Luton.  He  had 
two  sons ;  one  remained  at  Luton,  and  was  the  direct  ancestor  of  Sir  Baldwin  ; 
the  other  went  to  Salisbury,  and  was  the  direct  ancestor  of  Lord  Leighton. 


LEIGHTON  20I 

inspired  from  without,  the  other  from  within.  Whatever 
Leighton  was,  he  was  no  Celt ;  whatever  else  Watts  might 
be,  he  was  a  Celt. 

When  Watts  lost  Leighton,  he  felt  he  had  lost  a  bulwark 
of  strength — a  feeling  shared  by  many  other  of  Leighton's 
friends.  A  shadow  that,  alas !  had  come  to  stay,  seemed  to 
have  fallen  on  all  the  artistic  life  of  Kensington.  Its  world 
seemed  to  have  become  such  a  dowdy  uninspired  world  since 
the  bright  centre  light  was  extinguished. 

Watts  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  preservation  of  Leighton's 
house  for  the  public.  In  June  1898  he  wrote  :  "  I  return  Mrs. 
Orr's  letter,  and  with  admiration  for  the  generosity  of  the 
sisters.  I  rejoice  as  much  as  any  can  in  efforts  to  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  the  great  nature."  He  went  on  to  say  that  he 
was  sending  all  he  had  of  Leighton's,  and  should  have  sent 

them  long  ago,  but  had  always  heard  from  Mr.  C ,  "  again 

even  quite  lately,"  that  nothing  definite  was  settled.  He  had, 
however,  now  shown  his  sympathy  and  wish  by  giving  the 
picture  he  valued  almost  more  than  anything  he  possessed. 
In  writing  of  the  "  Clytemnestra,"  ^  which  was  being  bought 
for  Leighton  House,  Watts  said  that  it  would  indeed  be 
a  right  thing  to  acquire  such  a  picture,  and  that  it  seemed 
to  be  a  great  opportunity.  Again,  he  wrote  later  that  he 
was  more  pleased  than  he  could  say  that  the  picture  was 
possible.  It  was  very  fine — a  great  pictorial  realisation  of 
Greek  sculpture  and  Greek  poetry  ;  very  noble  in  expression, 
and  singularly  fine  in  the  arrangement  of  drapery.  Certainly 
a  better  example  of  Leighton  at  his  happiest  could  not,  he 
thought,  be  found.  It  is  also  especially  Leighton.  Later, 
in  giving  me  the  small  sketch  of  **  The  Athlete  struggling 
with  the  Python "  for  Leighton  House,  he  told  me  that  he 
considered    he    was    giving    the    most    beautiful    thing   he 

1  Now  forming  part  of  the  Leighton  House  collection. 


202       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

possessed.  He  deplored  greatly  the  loss  of  the  plaster  cast 
of  the  sketch  for  the  group  of  sleeping  women  in  the  "Cymon 
and  Iphigenia"  which  Leighton  had  given  him.  A  sculptor 
had  borrowed  it  in  order  that  it  should  be  cast  in  bronze  ;  but 
something  went  wrong,  and  it  was  destroyed  in  the  process.  I 
have  never  heard  Watts  speak  with  greater  enthusiasm  of  any 
work  of  art  than  he  did  of  this  sketch  by  Leighton.  He  said 
that  "  it  was  as  good  as  anything  that  has  ever  been  done,  not 
forgetting  Pheidias  !     Pheidias  never  did  anything  better  !  " 

In  the  summer  of  1902  Watts  lent  some  pictures  to  be 
exhibited  in  Leighton  House,  and  later  the  Watts  Exhibition 
was  arranged  there  in  the  two  studios.  The  pictures  were 
selected  so  as  to  show  the  history  of  his  work  as  regarded  the 
different  manners  of  painting  he  adopted  during  his  long  life. 
No.  I  was  the  portrait  of  Miss  M.  Kirkpatrick  Brunton, 
signed  and  dated  1842,  therefore  painted  before  he  went  to 
Italy,  but  there  were  six  small  pictures  in  his  still  earlier 
manner,  recalling  the  English  school  of  the  thirties.  A  large 
canvass  on  which  is  painted  in  thin  colour  a  group  of  girls 
reclining  under  trees,  recalled  the  manner  of  Watts'  work 
when  he  was  in  Italy.  The  full-length  portrait  of  Mrs. 
Nassau  Senior,  the  very  gorgeously  coloured  three-quarter 
length  of  Lady  Somers,  were  the  examples  chosen  of  this 
method  of  thin  glazing,  but  carried  out  with  far  more  delicacy 
in  the  modelling  and  strength  of  brush  work.  The  portrait  of 
Dr.  Joachim  showed  this  method  in  another  kind  of  treatment, 
and  likewise  the  danger  of  it.  The  dark  background  is 
covered  with  small  cracks  in  the  surface  of  the  paint.  It  was 
this  danger  which  led  Watts  to  discard  this  method  entirely, 
and  use  only  solid  paint.  While  feeling  out  for  one  which 
would  express  more  subtle  gradations  of  tone,  several  pictures 
were  painted  in  subdued  tints,  chiefly  brown  and  grey, 
brightened  by  silvery  lights  ;  but  though  the  scale  of  colour 


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LEIGHTON  203 

is  low,  they  are  nevertheless  the  works  of  a  great  coloiirist, 
and  recall  some  of  the  paintings  by  Tintoretto  in  Venice, 
which  might  be  almost  mistaken  for  monochromes  by  those  who 
have  not  a  keen  sense  of  colour.  The  "Judgment  of  Paris  " 
is  perhaps  the  most  notable  example  of  this  phase  of  Watts' 
art.  His  feeling  for  "  style  "  and  beauty  of  form  and  model- 
ling in  the  human  figure  is  shown  to  perfection  in  this  picture. 
The  "Endymion,"  "The  Wife  of  Pygmalion,"  the  small 
canvass  of  "  The  Vision  of  Britomart,"  "  A  Prodigal,"  "  Paolo 
and  Francesca,"  "Orpheus  and  Euridice,"  are  all  examples  of 
the  scale  being  restricted  to  subdued  tints.  The  love  of 
colour,  however,  in  its  fullest  chords  and  most  brilliant  hues 
soon  reasserted  itself.  I  saw  it  gradually  blending  with  the 
more  intricate  and  subtle  effects  of  tone  in  the  years  when  we 
first  knew  him.  I  remember  discussing  one  of  my  favourite 
pictures  in  the  National  Gallery,  Turner's  "  Ulysses  deriding 
Polyphemus,"  with  Watts.  He  visited  the  Turner  room 
frequently  about  that  time  to  drink  in  the  colour  from  the 
later  work,  and  it  made  the  subject  of  many  of  our  talks. 
The  small  canvass  of  "The  Court  of  Death"  was  the  finest 
example  of  this  uniting  of  colour,  tone,  and  atmosphere 
exhibited  among  the  thirty  pictures  at  Leighton  House. 
The  splendid  piece  of  direct  painting  in  the  portrait  of  Lady 
Dudley,  also  exhibited,  was  one  of  the  pictures  Watts  referred 
to  when  he  wrote  from  Brighton  :  "  I  am  trying  here  to  do 
absolutely  simple  work,  setting  aside  grounds  and  methods 
and  every  consideration  but  simple  aim,  I  feel  a  certain 
sense  of  emancipation,  but  the  things  are  trifles."  Trifles ! 
Never  did  Watts,  I  think,  paint  anything  to  equal  this 
portrait  in  certain  qualities.  The  complexion  has  the  rich 
full  colour  and  texture  of  fruit,  the  vigour  in  the  workmanship 
shows  what  Watts  could  do  when  he  was  working  against  time. 
He  ended  the  letter  referring  to  it  by  saying  he  must  finish 


204       REMINISCENCES   OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

"these  things,  as  this  is  the  last  of  Brighton  for  me."  As 
with  the  portrait  of  Walter  Crane,  he  had  no  time  to  weaken 
it ;  the  frank  pose,  the  strength  and  simplicity  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  black  dress  against  the  fine  gold  background,  are 
signs  of  qualities  which  Watts'  work  did  but  at  times  evince. 
"  Uldra  "  was  the  picture  exhibited  which  gave  one  quality 
of  his  work  in  its  most  obvious  form.  Having,  as  a  rule, 
painted  in  a  low  key,  however  brilliant  the  colour,  Watts  in 
"  Love  and  Life,"  "  Uldra,"  and  several  landscape  pictures, 
pitched  the  scheme  of  tone  light  and  fair.  In  "  Uldra"  there 
is  no  tint  deeper  than  is  found  in  a  nautilus  shell.  Examples 
of  the  last  phase  of  Watts'  technique  were  to  be  seen  in 
"  Love  steering  the  Barque  of  Humanity,"  and  in  "  Peace 
and  Goodwill,"  where  the  dry  pigment  was  put  on  with  loose, 
large  free  touches.  The  vigour  with  which  Watts  carried 
out  the  lines  of  the  composition  in  the  first  of  these  pictures 
is  extraordinary,  considering  his  age  at  the  time  it  was 
painted.  Gusts  of  wind  seem  verily  to  be  tearing  along, 
swirling  the  clouds  and  sweeping  down  on  the  waves,  flatten- 
ing their  furrows,  and  stretching  the  sail  till  it  bounds  from  its 
fastening  and  the  two  ropes  that  held  it  appear  to  be  actually 
flung  before  your  eyes  into  the  air.  Again,  in  "  Progress,"  a 
picture  which  Watts  discussed  very  eagerly  with  me,  show- 
ing much  excited  interest  in  the  subject,  the  extraordinary 
sense  of  plunging  forward  through  the  ages  realised  in  the 
action  of  the  horse,  suggests  a  power  arising  more,  I  think, 
from  vitality  in  the  psychic  than  in  the  physical  condition 
of  the  worker.  For  certainly,  if  Watts'  own  description  in 
his  letters  of  his  bodily  state  at  the  time  these  pictures  were 
painted  was  correct,  it  was  anything  but  vigorous.  He  feels 
"  time's  heavy  hand  "  upon  him.  He  writes  from  Scotland  in 
the  autumn  of  1899,  where  he  at  last  sees  that  beauty  in  the 
scenery    which    Leighton    so    keenly   enjoyed    almost   every 


LEIGHTON  205 

autumn,  that  he  is  trying  to  see  what  absolute  change 
might  do  for  him.  There  Watts  did  some  beautiful  work, 
but  he  was  taken  seriously  ill,  and  felt  ever  less  able  to  do 
more  than  "  try  to  improve."  "  Most  things  are  an  affliction 
to  me,  except  dabbling  with  a  little  line  and  colour,"  he  wrote 
later.  Sitting  with  him  in  his  studio  one  morning  in  the 
summer  of  1902,  I  realised  for  the  first  time  that  in  some 
ways  he  had  entered  a  sort  of  second  childhood  ;  a  beautiful, 
gentle,  touching  childhood  of  old  age.  He  spoke  confid- 
ingly to  me  of  his  health,  in  a  manner  in  which  men  speak  to 
their  sisters  or  to  their  nurse.  His  nature  seemed  to  have 
completely  reverted  to  a  childlike  simplicity  and  innocent 
frankness,  always  the  side  which  inspired  most  affection,  but 
which,  in  the  intricacies  of  his  difficult  career,  got  at  times 
sadly  effaced  and  blurred.  In  the  last  autumn  of  his  life,  I 
went  to  Greece.  "  Delightful !  "  he  wrote,  when  he  heard  the 
journey  was  arranged,  and  asked  me  to  go  in  to  see  him 
and  talk  about  it.  It  was  on  the  Acropolis  at  Athens,  in  the 
fair  light  of  the  air  and  sky  of  Greece,  compared  to  which  all 
other  atmospheres  are  but  colour  or  half  shadow,  that  I  felt 
in  its  fullest  meaning  the  beauty  of  that  bloom  which  idealises 
the  marbles  of  the  foreground,  the  landscapes  in  the  distance, 
and  spreads  over  and  floats  in  sky  and  land  everywhere,  and 
which  Watts  has  realised  in  his  painting — that  bloom  which 
etherealises  "  Hope,"  "Ariadne,"  "The  Carrara  Mountains," 
and  so  many  of  his  pictures,  most  notably  that  exquisite  whiff 
of  beauty  "  The  Island  of  Cos,"  that  quality  which  in  nature 
can  make  the  most  prosaic  spot  ideal,  the  most  arid  space 
suggestive  of  tenderest  beauty. 

When  I  returned  from  Greece  he  was  eager  to  hear  all  I 
had  to  say,  but  when  I  wanted  him  to  go  into  ecstasies  with 
me  over  the  transcendent  beauty  of  the  lines  and  the  colour 
and  the  atmosphere,  he  only  said,  "  I  suppose  it  is  wonderful, 


2o6       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

but  I  was  not  well  when  I  was  there."  His  letters,  written 
at  the  time  he  was  at  Athens,  however,  expressed  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  beauty  of  Greece.  He  wrote  from  Surrey 
later,  very  anxious  about  many  things,  troubled  about  ex- 
penses, and  saying  he  must  sell  his  London  house  but  that 
he  expected  to  be  much  more  there  during  the  coming  year, 
as  it  would  be  the  last!  The  subject  of  Leighton  House 
is  often  referred  to  in  his  letters  about  that  time.  On  October 
2  1,  1903,  he  wrote,  giving  more  or  less  a  history  of  his 
struggles.  He  had  never,  since  his  earliest  youth,  sixteen  or 
earlier !  had  a  penny  he  had  not  earned,  and  then  it  had  not 
been  all  for  himself,  and  certainly  few  have  given  more,  not 
out  of  the  superfluity  or  abundance,  but  out  of  hard  earnings, 
than  he  had.  He  enumerated  his  generous  gifts,  which, 
though  in  no  sense  regretting,  made  no  preparation  for  future 
pecuniary  ease.  He  especially  mentioned  his  gift  to  the 
Postman's  Park.  He  had  endeavoured  to  raise  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  public  in  a  good  cause,  but  it  had  only 
ended  in  his  having  to  contribute  six  or  seven  hundred 
pounds  himself.  At  the  close  of  this  letter  he  wrote  that 
these  were  bad  times  for  artists,  and,  he  feared,  for  most 
other  things.  He  hoped  all  things  were  well  with  me. 
He  delights  in  thinking  that  I  was  influencing  the  young 
girls  of  the  day.  No  subject  can  compete  in  importance 
with  the  education  problem.  The  last  New  Year's  letter 
I  received  from  him  was  written  on  January  7,  1904,  and 
began,  "It  is  rather  late  to  send  good  wishes  for  the  year." 
In  it  he  gave  but  a  poor  account  of  his  state.  A  letter 
written  in  the  spring  of  that  year  ends  with  the  words,  "  I 
am  full  of  maladies,  but  I  am  able  to  work,  and  as  eager 
to  improve  as  ever,  and  that's  about  all."  In  another,  he 
says,  "  I   think  aspiration  will  last  as  long  as  there  is  con- 


sciousness." 


G.  F.  WATTS 

From  Drawing  by  Cecil  Schott 


!!^^^' 


'■.S^ 


^ 


^^^1^ 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  LAST 

Watts  had  a  presentiment  that  he  would  die  in  the  year  1904. 
On  May  i6th  I  saw  him  in  the  crowded  Queen's  Hall  when 
Joachim  was  receiving  the  ovation  of  thousands  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  jubilee.  As  I  spoke  to  Watts  the  feeling  came  to 
me  that  the  end  was  near.  It  was  not  that  he  looked  more  ill 
— indeed  I  have  seen  him  at  times  look  more  weary  and  more 
exhausted  ;  but  there  was  on  that  evening  the  peculiar  look 
of  failing  life  in  the  face  which  is  unmistakable.  Among  the 
stalwart  musicians  and  the  vigorous  physiques  of  the  import- 
ant personages  gathered  together,  he  looked  so  very  small 
— so  pathetically  fragile.  He  seemed  to  be  conscious  of  some 
incongruity,  for  he  began  saying  to  me  apologetically,  "No 
personal  motive  would  have  brought  me  here — "  I  lost  the 
rest,  as  I  had  to  move  on  to  introduce  a  friend  to  Joachim. 

I  am  glad  that  that  was  not  the  last  time  I  saw  Watts. 
This  was  some  ten  days  later,  when  he  was  working  in  his 
garden  on  the  figure  of  his  equestrian  statue,  "Vital 
Energy."  When  he  saw  the  bronze  cast  placed  in  the  quad- 
rangle of  Burlington  House,  he  had  discovered  many  things 
in  it  he  thought  he  might  improve,  so  he  began  working  again 
on  the  original  tow  and  plaster  statue  from  which  the  cast  was 
taken.  Very  old  he  looked,  but  the  light  in  the  eye  was 
kindled  afresh  with  the  fire  of  aspiration  as  he  laboured  on. 
Yes — he  was  right  when  he  wrote  but  a  few  weeks  before,  "  I 

think  aspiration  will  remain  as  long  as  there  is  consciousness." 

307 


2o8       REMINISCENCES    OF    G.    F.    WATTS 

Ever  struggling  to  improve — the  hope,  the  effort  seemed  to 
impart  new  Hfe.  Working  away  in  the  peasant's  smock,  he 
was  eager  as  ever  to  reach  a  something  which  he  aspired  to 
as  the  best,  but  which  seemed  to  elude  him  as  the  mountain 
summit  eludes  the  traveller — that  farthest  summit  which  rises 
ever  beyond  the  height  attained  ! 

"  My  hill  was  farther  ;  so  I  flung  away 
Yet  heard  a  cry, 
Just  as  I  went,  '  None  goes  that  way 
And  lives ! '     'If  that  be  all,'  said  I, 
'  After  so  foul  a  journey  death  is  fair  ! '  " 

There  on  the  same  lawn  where  nearly  thirty  years  ago 
we  had  stood  together  before  the  design  in  embryo,  which 
now,  when  eighty-seven  years  old,  he  was  trying  to  improve 
— on  that  evening  when  he  had  so  eagerly  exclaimed,  "  I  am 
nothing — oh !  you  will  find  out  I  am  nothing.  One  thing 
alone  I  possess,  and  I  never  remember  the  time  I  was  with- 
out it — ^an  aim  towards  the  highest,  the  best,  and  a  burning 
desire  to  reach  it ! "  There  on  the  same  spot  I  saw  him  for 
the  last  time. 

Far  away  from  the  roar  and  stir  of  London's  July,  in  those 

high  Alps,   in  the  lifted  world  of  mountains,  among  lonely 

summits    that  look    fearlessly  upwards    into  cloudless   open 

skies,  into  limitless  spaces  of  aether,  I  knew,  before  I   heard, 

that  the  spirit  had  at  last  escaped  from  the  worn-out  tenement, 

the  golden  thread  had  burst  through  from  "the  rough  earthly 

web  " — 

"  In  soul  he  mounts  and  flies. 
In  flesh  he  dies." 

Evening  fell ;  star  after  star,  clear  and  bright,  rose  from 
behind  each  snowy  peak  lifted  up  and  away  so  far  above  the 


^1 


THE    LAST  209 

"pomp  and  circumstance"  of  human  life — mock  grandeur, 
indeed,  by  the  side  of  the  invincible  power  and  the  serene  quiet 
of  those  mountain  forces.  A  great  anthem  seemed  to  ring 
in  the  night  air — "  Sic  transit."  As  the  world  slid  away  into 
shadow  and  the  stars  were  lighted  all  over  the  sky,  it  was 
as  if  gateways  were  flung  open  into  realms  more  real,  more 
truly  ours  than  those  of  earth. 

Fortunate  it  is  that  while  consciousness  is  alive  nothing 
can  rob  us  of  our  delightful  memories — the  real  facts  of  our 
lives  belong  to  us  till  the  end.  As  we  look  back  on  our  short 
span,  very  distinctly  among  the  most  real  facts — perhaps, 
indeed,  the  only  facts  worthy  to  be  called  real — are  the  deep 
impressions  certain  of  our  fellow-creatures  made  on  us,  and 
the  impressions  we  made  on  them — in  other  words,  the  friend- 
ships of  our  lives.  The  memory  of  such  influences  may  lie 
dormant  for  a  time  under  the  pressure  of  urgent  daily  in- 
terests, but  they  will  to  a  certainty  reassert  their  existence 
sooner  or  later,  and  most  powerfully, — reminding  us  most 
convincingly  of  the  tenacious  hold  they  have  secured  on 
our  permanent  selves — when  startled  into  prominence  by 
the  mystery  of  death. 

During  those  first  days,  while  wandering  among  the 
mountains  or  looking  out  into  the  star-lit  skies,  the  sense  of 
companionship  with  the  artist  friend  as  he  was  in  the  midday 
of  his  life  came  back  so  vividly  it  seemed  like  the  presence 
of  his  actual  self,  unseen,  but  there ;  the  Watts  as  he  was  in 
his  fullest  strength,  when  passionate  zeal  to  achieve  great 
things  had  reached  its  zenith ;  when  the  subtle  genius, 
the  ambitious  aspirations,  the  lofty  imagination,  had  found 
their  completest  expression  ;  Watts,  the  earnest,  reverent 
student,  ever  striving  to  improve,  ever  searching  to  reach 
light ;  Watts,  the  sensitive,  confiding,  inspiring  friend.  Yes 
— on  the  lonely  slopes,  a  sense  of  the  presence  of  the  old 


2IO       REMINISCENCES    OF   G.    F.    WATTS 

companion  came  back  with  a  feeling  of  vivid  reality  as 
something,  it  would  seem,  belonging  to  those  heights — those 
mountain  heights,  where  the  heavens  drape  the  loftiest  spires 
with  shrouds  of  dazzling  white,  and  where,  freed  from  the 
veil  of  all  earthly  mists,  fields  of  fair  forget-me-nots,  blue 
as  the  torquoise,  fold  round  the  skirts  of  the  eternal  snow. 


THE    END 


Printed  by  Ballantyne  Hanson  &•  Co. 
Edinburgh  6^  London 


**  ASPIRATION** 

From  Drawing  in  Chalks  by  G,  F,  Watts 


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